Sanju Samson’s wife Charulatha Remesh took to her Instagram to appreciate her husband’s scintillating century against South Africa. She posted an Instagram story of an edit by the Rajasthan Royals franchise and captioned the post, “My forever favourite hero.” Samson became the 1st Indian and fourth overall to score two back-to-back hundreds in T20Is. Sanju Samson had to wait nine years after his T20I debut for his maiden century, but his second came in just 27 days. After smashing a 47-ball 111 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad on October 12, he continued his red-hot form with another 47-ball century in the T20I series opener against South Africa in Durban.
“Really enjoyed my time in the middle. Playing it well, maximum utilisation 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,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.
Samson was in top gear on Friday, taking charge after India lost opener Abhishek Sharma early. Alongside captain Suryakumar Yadav, Samson powered India to 56 runs in the powerplay, scoring 35 off just 20 balls during the first six overs. His aggressive intent put the South African bowlers under pressure right from the start.
Charulatha’s Instagram story
Samson’s feat places him in an elite group of Indian batters with multiple T20I centuries, joining Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul. Overall, 11 Indian batters have scored T20I hundreds, but only these four have done so more than once.
Despite his IPL success with Rajasthan Royals, Samson’s T20I career has been marked by sporadic opportunities since his 2015 debut. However, his recent performances have shown his potential to become a mainstay in the Indian T20I setup.
Samson would reveal the support he had got from Gambhir and Suryakumar during his time with the team.
“When you have a supporting captain like Suryakumar yadav and Gautam bhai and VVS Laxman sir, they all support you during failures.”
“The communication you get during failures is important. I got a lot of tips from Gautam bhai and Surya to work on. They would say, your play against spin needs improvement. Get the spinners from Kerala and play on rough wickets. So if you have the Indian captain on call telling you what to work on, you have the confidence from the skipper that he wants you to do well. So all those small things plays a huge role,” said Samson.
India and South Africa will face off in the second T20I on November 10, Sunday.
