However, Samson also hinted that he and Jurel might also share the responsibility of keeping the wickets.

“I have not said this on air but we feel where Dhruv Jurel is at this point of his career as a Test wicket-keeper, he needs to wear the gloves in the IPL. That was a discussion. I think we will be sharing gloves. I have never captained as a fielder. That might be challenging. I have told him ‘Dhruv, I understand where you are coming from and I think as a leader of the team, you should also keep for a few games.’ We will see how to play around with that but nothing should come before the team. The team should come first and the individual must be given importance,” Samson said during a chat on AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel.

Jurel made his Test debut for the Men in Blue earlier this year in a home series against England. However, the youngster soon lost his place to the experienced Rishabh Pant, who made a fantastic comeback to red-ball cricket in the series against Bangladesh.

Jurel did feature for India during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Perth, but wasn’t able to find a place in the next 2 Tests of the series that were played in Adelaide and Brisbane respectively. It is unlikely that Jurel will play any further part in the series, unless there is an injury.

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Months ahead of the 2025 edition of the tournament, RR skipper Sanju Samson revealed that the decision-making group saw him playing against Australia in the Chennai U-19 Test. Vaibhav had even broken the record for the fastest century by an Indian in the U19 level, where he played only 58 balls for the feat.

In a conversation with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legend Ab d Villiers, Sanju Samson shared that RR has a history of supporting youngsters. He even gave examples of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel to further solidify his statement.

“I have seen his highlights. All of the people in the Rajasthan decision-making group saw him bat at the U19 Test match vs Australia in Chennai, where he scored a hundred of 60-70 balls. The shots that he played there, it felt like, that’s something special and we felt like we have to have those kind of individuals in the side and see where they go,” Sanju Samson told AB de Villiers in an interview.

“But Rajasthan Royals have a history of doing this. They find out talents and make them champions. For example, there is a Yashasvi Jaiswal who came to RR as a youngster and now is a rockstar of the Indian team. There is Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel – they all fall under that line. I think RR loves that kind of thing – yes, we want to win the IPL, but we also want to make sure that we are giving enough champions to Indian cricket. It will be exciting to meet him,” the wicketkeeper-batter added.

Vaibhav was the part of India’s Under-19 Asia Cup 2024 team, where he scored 2 half-centuries in that tournament. He has played five first-class, one List , and one T20 match so far. He has 100 runs from 10 innings in Test cricket.

The post ‘Decision making group saw him…’: Sanju Samson reveals the reason why Rajasthan Royals used Rs. 1.10 crore on 13-year-old star player appeared first on Cricket Country.

However, the batter faced a tense moment during the match, when his perfectly timed upper-cut to Mitchell Starc ended up sailing over the boundary. While the crowd cheered in delight at the brilliant stroke, a tense moment followed which saw the ball hit a security guard, who was sitting just ahead of the boundary rope.

Kohli looked visibly concerned for the security guard, who was hit on the side of his head. The game was even brought to a halt as the Australian players checked on the guard and soon a physio also arrived.

Thankfully, the security guard looked completely fine and didn’t get injured severely. A similar incident also occurred recently during a T20I between India and South Africa when a shot from Sanju Samson ended up hitting a woman in the stands. The fan burst into tears and Samson looked quite concerned as well.

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Pandya surpassed England’s Liam Livingstone and Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee to regain the top position. This comes after the all-rounder performed well in both the batting and bowling departments against the Proteas.

Some of his highlights from the series include the knock of 39 in the second T20I which carried India to a fighting total. Then his economical spell of 1/8 in 3 overs in the fourth and final T20I helped India in ensuring their triumph in the series.

Another star performer for India in the series was batter Tilak Varma who scored consecutive centuries to lead the Men in Blue to victory in both the third and fourth T20I. In total, Varma scored 280 runs in the 4-match series and was awarded with the Player of the Series award.

These brilliant performances saw Varma rise 69 spots in the T20I batter rankings and ascend to the third position only behind Australia’s Travis Head and England’s Phil Salt. Varma also became the highest-ranked batter on the T20I batter rankings as skipper Suryakumar Yadav slipped to 4th place.

Sanju Samson also had a fantastic series where he scored 2 centuries and cemented his place in India’s T20I set-up. These fabulous performances saw him rise to the 22nd spot. The series against South Africa once again showcased India’s dominance in the T20I format.

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Sanju has recently given his appearance for India in the four-match T20I series against South Africa, where he was one of the best performers against the Proteas. Samson hit two centuries which had a massive impact on India’s 3-1 series win.

The teams are divided into five groups: Group A, B and C, which consist of eight teams along with Group D and E, which have seven teams.

Kerala is in Group E in the tournament. All the group-stage matches of Kerala will be played in Hyderabad as their campaign starts on theopening day.

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Samson has excellent under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, but after all-format players Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal return back to the T20I squad, Samson might not get a guaranteed spot as an opener.

“I haven’t thought about it so far, I like to live in the moment, I will try to enjoy what happened today because it’s a special win, a special series win,” Suryakumar said in the post-match press conference.

“I’m sure when they [Jaiswal, Gill] come, we’ll sit and talk about it, it will be difficult but it’s a good headache to have going forward if you have 20-25 people and you have to make a team of 10-15, so it’s quite a challenge and it’s a good thing for every team, it feels good to see this, so when those players come, we’ll see, we’ll talk to them, there are a lot of people, team management, selectors, BCCI, to get rid of that headache, we’ll see, there’s no problem,” he added.

In the final T20I of the four-match T20I series against South Africa, Samson stayed unbeaten for 109 runs off 56 deliveries. He shared an unbeaten record of 210-run partnership with Tilak Varma, who was also unbeaten for 120 off just 47 balls.

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Samson started the 4-match series in sublime fashion as he scored a brilliant century to lead India to a formidable total. However, he wasn’t able to carry the momentum in the next 2 matches and got dismissed for consecutive ducks.

In the final match, however, Samson scored his second century of the series to take India to a humongous total of 283/1. He was assisted incredibly well by Tilak Varma (120* from 47 deliveries), who scored his 2nd century in consecutive matches and formed an amazing partnership of 210 runs with Samson.

This total wasn’t only India’s highest in a T20I in overseas conditions, but was also the highest by any country on South African soil.

Among the many records broken, the most special one is 2 Indian batters scoring centuries in same T20I innings. Samson and Varma also posted the highest partnership for India in T20Is with their record-breaking stand of over 200 runs.

Samson now has 3 T20I tons in the last 5 knocks which also included 2 ducks while Varma has scored back-to-back T20I tons.

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At the post-match presentation, Suryakumar shared his pride in leading a young squad that rose to the occasion. The 34-year-old emphasized how his teammates consistently eased pressure on him regarding the captaincy through their brilliant performances on the field.

“It is very challenging when we tour South Africa, to come and win here. This is a special win and will stay with me forever. [on the coaching and support staff] They were sitting and enjoying the show since the first day. They spoke to the boys and said whatever you want, you do, we will sit and enjoy. Even today, they said if you want to bat first and put runs on the board, do it,” Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation.

“Though we were up 2-1 in the series, today we wanted to follow good habits and not worry about the result. It happened naturally,” Suryakumar added.

India ended the T20I series in style as Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma’s twin centuries led them to a mammoth total of 283/1 in 20 overs. In reply, South Africa could only manage to score 148 runs before getting bundled out in 18.2 overs.

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As they opted to bat first, India posted a mammoth of a score of 283 for 1. This massive score was mainly possible due to the unbeaten centuries from Tilak Varma (120 not out off 47 balls) and Sanju Samson (109 not out off 56 balls).

After the batting lineup posted a massive total on the board, the bowling lineup stepped up and bowled South Africa out for 148 in 18.2 overs.

Tristan Stubbs was the top-scorer for his team with 46 runs, along with David Miller who contributed 36.

From the Indian side, Arshdeep Singh came out as the best bowler for this match as he made figures of 3/20. Varun Chakravarthy (2/42) and Axar Patel (2/6) were two other bowlers who shined bright as they took two wickets each.

Hardik Pandya, Ramandeep Singh, and Ravi Bishnoi were the players who took remaining three wickets.

Brief Scores:

India: 283 for 1 in 20 overs
South Africa: 148 all out in 18.2 overs

The post Centuries by Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma help India beat South Africa by 135 runs in 4th T20I: Win the series 3-1 appeared first on Cricket Country.

He formed an incredible 210-run partnership with Tilak Varma, who also completed his century and became the second Indian to score T20I centuries in successive matches after Samson himself.

However, an unfortunate moment in the Indian innings came when Samson hit a six to Tristan Stubbs on the leg side. It was an exquisite shot from the 30-year-old, but it would end up hitting a female fan in the face.

The cameras showed her crying in pain. Samson would also wave his hand towards the fan as a gesture of apology.

With this fantastic knock, Samson broke many records. He became the first wicketkeeper-batter in history to slam 3 centuries in the shortest format. He overtakes England’s Phil Salt, who has slammed 2 tons in the shortest format of the game.

Samson became only the third Indian player after Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav to slam 3 centuries for India in T20Is. He also became the first player in history to slam three centuries in T20Is in a calendar year.

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