During his stay at the crease in Durban on Friday, Sanju faced 50 deliveries and, with the help of seven fours and 10 sixes, scored 107 runs.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson opened the innings for India in the first T20I against South Africa, which was played at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday (November 8) and scored 107 runs from just 50 balls. During his stay at the crease, the 29-year-old right-handed batter from Kerala hammered seven fours and 10 sixes to help India post a total of 202 runs on the board for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. Sanju added 66 runs for the second wicket with captain Suryakumar Yadav (21 runs from 17 balls) and 77 runs for the third wicket with Tilak Varma (33 runs from 18 balls).
Here’s a look at the list of records broken by Sanju Samson during his 107-run knock in the 1st India-South Africa T20I:
- By scoring a century in the first T20I on Friday, Sanju became the first Indian cricketer in history to score two back-to-back 100s in the shortest format of the game. In his last T20I for India, which was played against Bangladesh in Hyderabad on October 12, 2024, Samson had scored 111 runs from 47 balls. Samson is also the first Asian and overall fourth batter in the world to hit consecutive hundreds in T20Is.
- Samson has become the fourth Indian cricketer after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav to score a century in T20Is against South Africa.
- Samson becomes the second Indian batter after Suryakumar Yadav to score a T20I century in South Africa. Surya had scored 100 runs from 56 balls against the Proteas in Johannesburg on December 14, 2023.
- Samson is fourth Indian cricketer after Rohit Sharma (5), Suryakumar Yadav (4), and KL Rahul (2) to score multiple centuries in T20Is.
- Sanju is the third Indian after Rohit and Suryakumar to score multiple T20I centuries in a calendar year. In 2018, Rohit scored 100* vs England (Bristol, July 8) and 111* vs West Indies (Lucknow, November 6), whereas Suryakumar scored two centuries each in 2022 (117 vs ENG, 111* vs NZ) and 2023 (112* vs SL, 100 vs SA).
- Samson’s 107 from 50 balls is the highest individual score in T20I matches played between India and South Africa. He broke Rohit’s nine-year-old record of 106 runs, which he scored from 66 balls in Dharamsala on October 2, 2015. South Africa’s David Miller also scored 106 runs in October 2022.
- Samson smashed as many as 10 sixes during his 107-run knock on Friday, which is a record for hitting joint-most sixes in a T20I inning by an Indian batter. During his 118-run knock against Sri Lanka at Holkar Stadium in Indore (December 2017), Rohit has almost smashed 10 sixes.
- Samson now holds the record for hitting most sixes in a T20I match between India and South Africa. He broke Rilee Rossouw and Suryakumar’s record, who scored 8 sixes each during their 100 run knocks in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
- Samson is the second Indian after Rohit Sharma to score centuries in both ODIs and T20Is against South Africa. Rohit has three ODIs and one T20I century to his name vs Proteas, whereas Samson has scored one century each in both formats. In his last ODI match for India, which was played against SA in Paarl on December 21, 2023, Samson scored 108 runs.
amson would like to maintain his red-hot form for India in the second T20I as well, which is scheduled to take place at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Sunday (November 10).
