Sanju Samson, on Friday, November 8, became the joint-seventh fastest Indian to reach the landmark of 7000 runs in T20Is. He got to the milestone in his 269th innings in T20Is during the opening T20I against South Africa at the Kingsmead in Durban. Interestingly, he got to the feat faster than the legendary MS Dhoni, who is all set to play in his 17th season in the IPL.
South Africa vs India, 1st T20I Updates
Robin Uthappa also got to 7000 T20 runs in his 269th innings. KL Rahul holds the record for the fastest to the milestone. He broke Virat Kohli’s record while playing for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) earlier this year in the IPL. The overall record is held by Babar Azam in only 187 innings followed by Chris Gayle (192) and Rahul.
Here’s the list of fastest Indian batters to 7000 runs in T20s
KL Rahul – 197 innings
Virat Kohli – 212 innings
Shikhar Dhawan – 246 innings
Suryakumar Yadav – 249 innings
Suresh Raina – 251 innings
Rohit Sharma – 258 innings
Sanju Samson – 269 innings
Robin Uthappa – 269 innings
MS Dhoni – 305 innings
Dinesh Karthik – 336 innings
Sanju Samson making his mark for India
Samson came into the series after scoring a brilliant hundred against Bangladesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He carried on from where he left off and took the Proteas bowlers to the absolute cleaners.
After India were asked to bat first, Samson lost his opening partner Abhishek Sharma early. Thereafter, he put on 66 runs for the second wicket with skipper Suryakumar, who made 21 off 17 before Patrick Kruger accounted for his wicket.
Samson got to his half-century off 27 balls and he did not look back from there on, keeping the South African bowlers on their toes throughout.
