IPL 2021: 3 milestones Sanju Samson can reach this season
Sanju Samson made quite the splash in IPL 2021 after being named the new skipper of the Rajasthan Royals. Barring a brain fade against the Punjab Kings that somewhat overshadowed his brilliant counter-attacking hundred in the season opener, which they lost by four runs, things have looked positive for Samson.
However, he was dismissed cheaply in the second game against the Delhi Capitals. Samson will be keen to make amends and ahead of the game against the Chennai Super Kings, let's take a look at a few milestones the Kerala batsman can reach in this IPL.
Sanju Samson is 293 runs away from reaching 3000 IPL runs
Since his debut in 2013, Samson's gifted strokeplay and penchant for big scores has left fans in awe. He showed his intent to take his side to their second title win by slamming a hundred in the first game, which took him closer to reaching 3000 runs in the league.
Currently, Samson has 2707 runs at an average of 28.49 and a strike rate of 135.48. He has 13 fifties and three hundreds.
Sanju Samson is 7 fifties away from 20 half-centuries
With Samson's rich vein of form, reaching 20 half-centuries is a possibility and that will indeed be a good record for the wicketkeeper-batsman to have.
He will be looking to take on MS Dhoni's men and cement his authority against the well-balanced CSK outfit with another staggering knock that further justifies his reason to be the newly-minted skipper of a young Rajasthan side.
Sanju Samson can be RR's second leading run-scorer
Ajinkya Rahane leads the list of RR's all-time highest run-scorers with 2810 runs and behind him is Shane Watson at 2372. With both players now out of the franchise, Sanju Samson, who is third in line, gets a chance to vault over Watson if he can score 342 runs for the side this season.
In the field, he just needs one more catch to climb past Ben Stokes and perch himself in fourth position for the most number of catches. As a wicketkeeper, he will be inching close to 60 catches this season. And should he effect three more dismissals, he will break into the list of top 10 wicketkeepers with most dismissals alongside KL Rahul at no.10.
Leading that list is CSK skipper MS Dhoni with 148 dismissals, and a rung below is Dinesh Karthik with 142 to his name.