Samson Breaks Multiple Records, Achieves Historic First With Ton vs SA

Sanju Samson scripted history as he became the first-ever cricketer to hit back-to-back T20I centuries for India, slamming a brilliant hundred in the first T20I against South Africa in Durban on Friday. Samson slammed this century having already made a scintillating 47-ball 111 in India's previous T20I, against Bangladesh. Samson brought up his century in just 47 balls with the help of 7 fours and 9 sixes. Samson also hit the fastest century by an Indian against South Africa in T20I cricket.

Hundreds in consecutive innings in T20Is

Gustav Mckeon

Rilee Rossouw

Phil Salt

Sanju Samson

Following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from T20I cricket, two slots have opened up in the Indian top order in the shortest format. In the fringes of the XI previously, Samson has grabbed this opportunity with both hands thanks to consistent performances in the shortest format.

The 29-year-old, who captains Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), became the third cricketer among Test-playing nations and fourth cricketer overall to hit T20I centuries in consecutive matches. Earlier, this feat has been achieved by England's Phil Salt, South Africa's Rilee Rossouw and France's Gustav McKeon. The Frenchman was the first player to achieve this.

Samson was Rajasthan Royals' first retention ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, being retained for Rs 18 crore. Having led the franchise to two playoffs in the previous three seasons, Samson is one of India's premier batters in T20I cricket at the moment.

Earlier, South Africa have won the toss and chose to field first against India.

Playing XIs:

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Varun Chakravarthy

South Africa: Ryan Rickelton (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Partrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter