Sanju Samson on Friday became the first Indian to slam tons in back-to-back T20Is as he raised his second hundred in the format in just 47 balls during the first T20I between India and South Africa in Durban. (Live Blog | More Cricket News)
Samson's stunning 107 from 54 balls took India to 202/7 in 20 overs despite a failure of the lower order.
The 29-year-old joined an elite club of batters with centuries in back-to-back T20I innings which only has four players. Gustav Mckeon of France, South Africa's Rilee Rossouw and England's Phil Salt are the other three men in the list. Samson had scored 111 in his last T20I outing against Bangladesh last month.
Samson's 47-ball hundred also became the fastest ton by an Indian in South Africa as the wicket-keeper left his captain Suryakumar Yadav's record of 55 balls way behind. The Kerala born hit seven fours and 10 sixes in his innings, equalling the record of Rohit Sharma for Indian with most maximums in a T20I innings. Samson's 10 sixes are also the most number of maximums by a player in a T20I between India & South Africa surpassing eight each by Rilee Rossouw and Suryakumar Yadav.
Samson's 107 is also now the highest ever individual score in a T20I between India & South Africa. The right-hander surpassed David Miller's 106 not out that the left-hander scored in Guwahati in 2022.
Samson was extremely harsh on spinners and scored 58 runs from 27 balls against the slower bowlers.
Riding on Samson's blitzkrieg, India were looking set to for a total in excess of 230 but once the Kerala wicket-keeper batter was dismissed, the visitors could not find the perfect finish. India could only muster 40 runs in the last six overs.
Apart from Samson, Tilak Varma contributed with an 18-ball 33 and captain Suryakumar got 21 runs from 17 balls. Gerald Coetzee was the pick of the bowlers for the Proteas with the wickets of Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh.
