At the same Wankhede Stadium where he scored 89 against England in the T20 World Cup semi-final, Sanju Samson went one better in what was his first ‘El Clásico’ appearance. Samson anchored the Chennai Super Kings innings on Thursday, scoring an unbeaten 101 off 54 balls to power the visitors to 207 for 6 in 20 overs.
It wasn’t the kind of start Samson expected in CSK colours. Billed as a long-term successor to MS Dhoni, a role Chennai has been searching to fill, the India wicketkeeper-batter failed to carry his T20 World Cup form into the IPL, managing just 22 runs in his first three innings.
Samson admitted to feeling the pressure that came with a franchise pushing hard to secure him. With the added weight of expectations around replacing Dhoni and continued backing from the management, he was desperate to repay the faith. What followed was a return to basics in training, and the results soon showed.
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A century against Delhi Capitals at Chepauk, an unbeaten 115, powered CSK to their first win of the season. Samson then chipped in with a 48 against Kolkata Knight Riders in another victory, before, just over a week later, smashing his second century of IPL 2026 — an innings studded with 10 fours and six sixes. It was the first time in his career that Samson scored two centuries in a single IPL season.
For Chennai, Samson once again waged a lone battle. Poor shot selection and lack of application from others led to wickets tumbling around him, but he held firm, pacing his innings to perfection and playing each delivery on merit to script another memorable knock.
The century came off the final ball of the innings, with a boundary against Krish Bhagat. And as the batter soaked in all the appreciation from the CSK fans at the Wankhede, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav all rushed in to show their appreciation for the knock.
Samson became only the second CSK batter to score two IPL centuries in a single season after Shane Watson in 2018, and the fourth CSK player overall with multiple IPL hundreds, alongside Murali Vijay and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
It was also his fifth IPL century, drawing him level with KL Rahul in fourth place on the all-time list, behind Virat Kohli (9), Jos Buttler (7) and Chris Gayle (6). The knock also took his overall T20 century tally to eight, equalling Rohit Sharma among Indians, behind only Kohli and Abhishek.