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Indian opener Sanju Samson made history on Saturday, becoming the first batter in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to score centuries for three different franchises after he brought up his maiden century in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) colours against Delhi Capitals (DC) at Chepauk Stadium.
During the clash at Chepauk, a wounded Samson, after three bad outings, roared back into form with an unbeaten 115* in 56 balls, with 11 fours and four sixes, at a strike rate of 205.36. Out of his four IPL hundreds, Sanju has scored two for Rajasthan Royals (in the 2019 and 2021 seasons) and Delhi Capitals (in the 2017 season). The batter also completed 400 sixes in T20s, becoming the fourth Indian to reach the milestone following Rohit Sharma (554), Virat Kohli (441), and Suryakumar Yadav (442). He now has 401 sixes in the shortest format of the game. The 113-run partnership between Samson and half-century Ayush Mhatre is the second-highest for CSK vs DC for any wicket in IPL, behind 141 runs added by Conway and Gaikwad for the first wicket at Delhi in 2023. Sanju was sensational against pace and spin alike, but he took some special liking to pacers, scoring 84 runs in 39 balls at a strike rate of 215.4, with 11 fours and three sixes, and scored 31 in 17 balls against spin at a strike rate of 182.3, with four boundaries and a six. Coming to the match, DC won the toss and elected to bowl first. While skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (15 in 18 balls) looked rusty in his 62-run opening stand with Sanju, the Kerala-born batting star enjoyed the same fluency that earned him the 'Player of the Tournament' title in the T20 World Cup for India this year. He later had a 113-run stand with Mhatre (59 in 36 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and a fiery cameo from Shivam Dube (20* in 10 balls, with two fours and a six) took CSK to 212/2 in 20 overs, with skipper Axar Patel (1/39) being among the wickets for DC. (ANI)
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