‘Shows the character of the man’ – Suryakumar Yadav lauds Sanju Samson after consecutive T20I centuries

‘Shows the character of the man’ – Suryakumar Yadav lauds Sanju Samson after consecutive T20I centuries (Source: X/Twitter)

Sanju Samson has been in India’s scheme of things for quite a long time, but he has always been deprived of consistent opportunities. The Kerala-born cricketer was picked for the T20 World Cup 2024 but he warmed the bench during the entire tournament and only managed to break into the team in the absence of the first-choice players. Now, the keeper-batter managed a few consistent opportunities in the national team and has taken advantage of that by smashing consecutive tons.

He also became the first Indian cricketer to hit back-to-back centuries in the shortest format. When all the other batters struggled to get going in Durban, Samson wreaked havoc, smashing 107 runs off 50 balls. Courtesy of his phenomenal knock, India posted 202 in the first innings and won the game by 61 runs.

After the match, captain Suryakumar Yadav lavished praises on Samson for playing a selfless knock for the team. He highlighted that even when the 29-year-old batted in the 90s, he didn’t change gears, looked for boundaries, and played for the team.

“The amount of hard work he has put in over the last few years, doing the boring work, he is eating the fruits of that. He was in the 90s but still he was looking for a boundary, playing for the team which shows the character of the man and that’s what we look for,” Suryakumar said during the post-match presentation.

We want to play without fear: Suryakumar

The selectors made a bold decision by appointing Suryakumar as T20I captain over Hardik Pandya. However, he has done an excellent job so far, winning all four games and will hope to seal the South Africa series without a defeat. Speaking on his journey so far, the captain mentioned that the players have made it easy as they have stuck to the plan of aggressive batting and added that the team wants to play without any fear.

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“Boys have made my job easier, I don’t need to carry any baggage, the way they have been showing that fearless attitude, the boys are enjoying themselves on and off the field, which makes my job easier. The brand of cricket we play, even though we lose a few wickets, we want to play without fear. It’s a T20 game, we know we have 20 overs but if you can score 200 in 17 overs, why not,” Suyakumar concluded.