Chennai Super Kings opener Sanju Samson stole the show in the marquee clash against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2026. When all the other batters were struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking, the keeper-batter took the responsibility on himself, smacking a century in 54 balls. He reached the feat in the final delivery of the innings, pulling Krish Bhagat for a boundary. He remained unbeaten on 101 runs as Chennai posted 207 runs on the board in the first innings.
With that, the Kerala-born have matched Rohit Sharmaโs feat of most centuries by an Indian in T20 cricket. Abhishek Sharma tops the list with nine tons in the format, while Virat Kohli stands second with eight. Rohit and Samson, in the meantime, are joint-third wth seven tons to their name in the format.
Most T20 centuries by Indians:
| Player | T20 centuries |
| Abhishek Sharma | 09 |
| Virat Kohli | 08 |
| Rohit Sharma | 07 |
| Sanju Samson | 07 |
It was Samsonโs second century in the last four games. He had a rather slow start to the season after the T20 World Cup, but the 31-year-old soon found momentum, hitting a century against Delhi Capitals a couple of weeks back and now played a scintillating knock against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
CSKโs batting remains a concern
Even though Samson helped CSK finish well, the team management would be disappointed with the overall batting effort. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was off to a good start but he once again failed to capitalise on the start, departing for 22 runs, which is also CSKโs second-highest individual score tonight. Promoted to bat at three in Ayush Mhatreโs absence, Sarfaraz Khan made 14, while Shivam Dube scored five.ย
South Africa international Dewald Brevis seemed in good touch for a while, but he too departed for 21 runs. The pressure eventually fell on Samson to deliver and he did his best, to say the least. Still, CSK would feel that they are 15 runs short in the middle.ย
For Mumbai, AM Ghazanfar and Ashwini Kumar had a stunning night, claiming two wickets each. Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell Santner picked one each.ย
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