Sanju Samson beats MS Dhoni to reach significant landmark in IND vs SA 2024 1st T20I
Team India's keeper-batter Sanju Samson struck a brilliant 107 off 50 as the Men in Blue hammered South Africa by 61 runs in the first T20I at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday, November 8. During his knock, Samson became the joint seventh-fastest Indian batter to reach 7,000 runs in T20s, getting to the landmark quicker than the legendary MS Dhoni.
While Dhoni needed 305 innings to score 7,000 T20 runs, Samson got to the landmark in his 269th innings. Former India batter Robin Uthappa also took the same number of innings to reach 7,000 T20 runs. KL Rahul (197) tops the list, followed by Virat Kohli (212), Shikhar Dhawan (246), Suryakumar Yadav (249), Suresh Raina (251) and Rohit Sharma (258).
Samson went into the first T20I against South Africa in Durban with 6,941 T20 runs from 268 innings. Following his knock of 107, the right-handed batter has 7,048 runs in T20s.
Sent into bat by the Proteas in the opening T20I, India put up 202-8, with Samson clobbering seven fours and 10 sixes in his 50-ball knock. Tilak Varma chipped in with 33 off 18, while skipper Suryakumar contributed 21 off 17. In their chase, South Africa were bowled out for 141 in 17.5 overs as leg-spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Ravi Bishnoi claimed three wickets each.
"Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't" - Samson on his ultra-aggressive batting style
After being named Player of the Match, Samson said that he's enjoying his good form and wants to maximize the same. He also admitted that his over-aggressive batting method comes with its set of risks. The 29-year-old batter was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz:
"Really enjoyed my time in the middle. Playing it well, maximum utilization of my current form you can say. The intent, we have been talking about being aggressive and keeping the team ahead of yourselves. Once you play three-four balls you are looking for the boundary, I'm not thinking much; sometimes it pays off; sometimes it doesn't, happy it worked out well today."
The second T20I of the India vs South Africa series will be played at St George's Park in Gqeberha on Sunday, November 10.