The eighth match of IPL 2019, and Sanju Samson has become the first cricketer to score a century this season.
The 24-year-old smashed an unbeaten 102 off just 55 balls to help Rajasthan Royals post 198 for two against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, 29 March. His knock included 10 fours and four hits over the fence.
Interestingly, this is Samson’s second IPL century, and also his second 102 score in the IPL – he had scored the exact same for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) against Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2017 season.
Sanju is the fourth Indian to score two hundreds in the Indian Premier League after Virat Kohli (4), Virender Sehwag (2), Murali Vijay (2).
Opener Rahane Scores 49-Ball 70
Opening the batting after winning the toss, Rahane led from the front with 49-ball 70 and together with Samson shared 119 runs for the second wicket to set the base for the total after the early dismissal of Jos Buttler.
Introduced into the attack in the fourth over, Rashid Khan (1/24) struck with only his second ball, cleaning up dangerman Buttler around his legs.
Rajasthan's decision to bat first didn't go according to plan, at least, in the powerplay as the visitors struggled against Sunrisers' disciplined bowling to garner just 35 runs in the first six overs.
After Buttler's dismissal, skipper Rahane was joined at the crease by Samson and the duo played cautiously without taking any undue risk to take Rajasthan forward.
While Rahane played the anchor's role, Samson opened up his arms soon and smashed two sixes in consecutive overs of Shabaz Nadeem and Siddharth Kaul to give some momentum to Rajasthan's innings.
Rahane soon joined his junior colleague and clobbered Nadeem straight over his head as Rajasthan reached 75 for one at the halfway stage.
After a slow start, Rahane stepped on the accelerator and welcomed Vijay Shankar with six over deep square leg boundary.
Both Rahane and Samson paced their innings to perfection, as after playing cautiously initially, they broke their shackles when needed and notched up the team's 100 in 11.5 overs.
Rahane registered his first fifty of the ongoing IPL in 38 balls while Samson brought up his half-century in 34 deliveries as the duo raised 100-run stand for the second wicket in 65 balls.
Rahane finally departed in the 16th over bowled by Nadeem, holed out by Manish Pandey at long-on as he went for a big shot. He struck four boundaries and three sixes during his knock.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's torrid time at the death overs continued. If it was Andre Russell in the last match, it was Samson Friday as the young Kerala batsman too the senior pacer to cleaners, hitting him for four boundaries and one six to pick up 24 runs from the 18th over.
As if that was not enough, Bhuvneshwar witnessed yet another forgettable day as he leaked 21 runs in the last over.
He ended with figures of 0/55 in his four overs – his most expensive spell in the Indian Premier League.
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