India’s T20I opener Sanju Samson on Saturday got back his form while playing the third T20 match against Bangladesh at Hyderabad as he scored a blazing century in just 40 deliveries.
Building a strong partnership of 273 runs with skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju helped India post their highest-ever score – 297/6 – in the third T20I against Bangladesh at Hyderabad.
In his 47 deliveries knock, Sanju scored a whopping 111 runs, which included 11 fours and 8 sixes. While, skipper SKY scored 75 off 35 balls, including five sixes and eight fours.
Chasing a mountainous target of 298 runs in 120 deliveries, Najmul Hossain Shanto-led Bangladesh team could score just 164/7. For Bangladesh Towhid Hridoy slammed 63 runs and Litton Das contributed 42 run.
India won the match by 133 runs and the series 3-0.
What Sanju-SKY said?
After the match, Sanju and SKY caught up for a candid chat, and they expressed their feeling.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India shared a video of it. In the video, Sanju can be heard saying, “Basically, very happy, out of words, very emotional, very grateful to God that it has happened. Everyone has his own time.”
Sanju acknowledged the journey to the century was long and challenging. “I just kept on doing my work, kept on believing in myself, and happy that you were there with me to celebrate that hundred.”
Sharing an incident during the match, Sanju said that when he was batting at 96, he hit Bangladesh spinner Mahedi Hasan for a boundary down the line to complete his first T20I century.
He said that he took a chance based on the confidence he gained from the head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper SKY. He also gave credit to the atmosphere developed in the dressing room in recent months.
“Nothing but the atmosphere that we have created in the dressing room since Sri Lanka series. The only message is, ‘Bhai Jao… Aggressive’,” he said.
In addition, Sanju mentioned that skipper SKY advised him to take his time and go slow as he was approaching his century. “Aggressive and humble – the two words our captain and coach keep reminding us. That suits my nature so I think, that’s why I kept going for it. Because when I was batting on 96, I said ‘Uda ke karta hun…’ but he asked me to take some time because you have earned it,” he concluded.
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