Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar praised Sanju Samson on X (formerly Twitter) for his stupendous century in IND vs SA 3rd ODI on Thursday. Sanju Samson scored a crucial knock of 108 runs off 114 balls to rescue the team from a mini-batting collapse early on.
During his knock, Sanju Samson hit 6 boundaries and 3 sixes to score his first ton in international cricket. Notably, he came to the crease from the number 3 batting position instead of his usual middle-order position.
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Sanjay Manjrekar admires Sanju Sasmon on Twitter
After Sanju Samson’s brilliant ton, former India player Sanjay Manjrekar praised the wicketkeeper-batsman on Twitter. Manjrekar said that Samson played a slow knock against his nature as it was necessary at that time.
“If Sanju Samson had scored 100 in 80 balls, you would have said well done, Sanju! But that he came into bat in the 5th over and got 100 from him in the 44th over and played to the team’s needs, seemingly against his nature, my admiration for Samson has grown considerably today! the 58-year-old wrote on Twitter.
If Sanju Samson had scored 100 in 80 balls, you would have said well done, Sanju! But that he came into bat in the 5th over and got his 100 in the 44th over and played to the team’s needs, seemingly against his nature, my admiration for Samson has grown considerably today! 👏👏👏
– Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) December 21, 2023
Sanju Samson gets emotional after winning POTM
Notably, it was the final match of the IND vs SA ODI series and Samson’s knock was the key reason behind India’s victory. Sanju Samson also won the Man of the Match award for his extraordinary knock. After receiving the award, the right-handed hitter was emotional.
“It feels very emotional, going through emotions now. Very happy to achieve it. I have been working hard physically and mentally, happy to see the results now going in my favour,” said Sanju, who is the captain of Rajasthan Royals in IPL.
Samson also added that the field was getting slower as the game progressed.
“They played very well with the new ball and the older ball was getting slower and harder to hit. So after KL got out, they had the momentum where Maharaj was bowling very well,” the Kerala player added.
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India crushed South Africa by 78 runs to win the series 2-1
Meanwhile, India beat South Africa by 78 runs in the third ODI of IND vs SA. South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first at Boland Park in Paarl. The men in blue lost 3 wickets of 101 on the board, with openers Rajat Patidar (22) and Sai Sudharsan (10) and KL Rahul (21), one less, leaving for the pavilion early.
However, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma hit a ton and fifty respectively to propel India to 296-8 in 50 overs. Rinku Singh also added a crucial 27-ball-38 towards the end. Beuran Hendricks took 3 wickets for South Africa.
During the chase, Proteas were bowled out for 218. Opener Tony de Zorzi scored 81 runs but the rest of the batsmen could not follow up his good start. Arshdeep Singh stole the show once again by bagging 4 scalps in his kitty.
Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar picked 2 wickets each to crush the Proteas batsmen in the series decider clash. With the victory, India also won the three-match ODI series 2-1. Arshdeep Singh won the Player of the Series award.