Sanju Samson’s maiden international century propelled India to an ODI series victory over South Africa. The Indian Wicket-keeper hit 108 off 114 balls after being promoted to the No.3 position in the series decider as India won the third One-Day International (ODI) by 78 runs to win the series by 2-1 series on South African soil.
Sanju Samson batted cautiously at the start of the innings but gained confidence on a tricky wicket in the middle overs to score his first century in International Cricket. The right-handed batter was criticized for his poor performance against South Africa in the last ODI. In the final ODI against South Africa, he shocked everyone by playing a match-winning innings.
The Kerala wicket-keeper batter combined to score 116 runs for the fourth wicket with Tilak Varma, who also made his maiden ODI fifty, to enable India to post a fighting total of 296 runs. Samson was allowed to bat higher up the order after failing to deliver in the second ODI, and after taking some time to settle at the crease, The 29-year-old made a statement by blasting a century.
Sanju Samson was named Player of the Match after scoring his first ODI century and helping India win the series decider. After the ODI series concluded, Sanju took to Instagram to share a photo of himself enjoying his first ODI century, captioning the post, “It is what it is..!! “I’ve decided to keep going.”
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It was a rare series victory for India over the Proteas on South African soil. This is only the second time in a bilateral series that India has defeated South Africa at home. The first occurred in 2018, while Virat Kohli’s captaincy. KL Rahul became the second Indian skipper to accomplish this accomplishment.
Sanju Samson will now return to India because he is not in the Test squad for the two-match test series against South Africa. He will next be seen playing for his state team Kerala in the 2024 Ranji Trophy season, and he is expected to be called up to India’s T20I team for a three-match series against Afghanistan following his brilliant against South Africa and followed by the Indian Premier League.