Johannesburg, 16 November (IANS). Sanju Samson batted brilliantly and scored his third T20 century in the fourth match of the series against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium here on Friday. Samson played a brilliant inning of 109 not out off just 56 balls, which included nine sky-high sixes and six fours, registering his name in the record books by achieving many T20 international achievements.
With this innings, Samson became the first batsman in T20 International history to score three centuries in a calendar year and the second player after England’s Phil Salt to score two centuries in a bilateral T20 International series.
Samson scored an unbeaten century after scoring 107 in the series opener in Durban, further cementing his reputation as one of India’s most dynamic T20 International players. This was the first time in men’s T20 cricket history that two players scored centuries in the same innings in a match between full ICC members.
Samson has now achieved the distinction of scoring the most T20 centuries (three) by an Indian, leaving behind KL Rahul’s two centuries. Only Rohit Sharma (four) and Suryakumar Yadav (three) have been able to reach similar heights in this format. He has had a brilliant run of form, with all three of his centuries coming in his last five T20 innings. He also scored two consecutive zeroes in the second and third T20 of the series.
Samson’s exploits were further enhanced by a brilliant century from Tilak Verma, who scored his second consecutive T20 century in the series. Verma played an explosive inning of 102 runs in just 50 balls, which included ten sixes and nine fours. Samson and Verma together made a brilliant partnership of 210 runs for the second wicket, which is the highest partnership in a T20 match between full members of ICC. Verma also joins Samson in the list, becoming the second Indian to score centuries in consecutive T20Is. Thanks to their partnership, India set a target of 284 runs for South Africa in the last match of the series and won.
–IANS
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