Sanju Samson breaks several records and achieves historic victory with clay against South Africa

Sanju Samson created history by becoming the first ever cricketer to hit two consecutive T20I centuries for India by hitting a brilliant hundred in the first T20I against South Africa in Durban on Friday. Samson struck this century after scoring a scintillating 47-ball 111 in India's previous T20I against Bangladesh. Samson made his century in just 47 balls with the help of 7 fours and 9 sixes. Samson also scored 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 exit of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from T20I cricket, two places in India's top rankings have become vacant in the shortest format. Previously, Samson, who was on the fringes of the eleven, had seized the opportunity with both hands thanks to consistent performances in the shortest format.

The 29-year-old, captain of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), became the third cricketer among Test playing nations and the fourth cricketer overall to score T20I centuries in consecutive matches. This feat had previously been achieved by the Englishman Phil Salt, the South African Rilee Rossouw and the Frenchman Gustav McKeon. The Frenchman was the first player to achieve this.

Samson was Rajasthan Royals' first recruit ahead of the 2025 IPL mega auction and was retained for Rs 18 crore. Having led the franchise to two playoffs in the last three seasons, Samson is currently one of India's best batters in T20I cricket.

Earlier, South Africa won the toss and elected to play India first.

Ending XIs:

India: Sanju Samson (week), 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