IPL 2021 Match 4: Sanju Samson's century goes in vain as Punjab win the thriller
Sanju Samson
|| India Correspondent ||
Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of those leagues which leaves no stone unturned to entertain fans. And, the fourth match of the ongoing IPL between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals was also a high voltage drama where not only KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda entertained with their bats, debutant Chetan Sakriya has impressed with the bowling and fielding too.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bowl first. And, soon they realised the wrong call in the toss. Captain KL Rahula and Mayank Agarwal started hitting from the very first over. Although Mayank had a short stay in the middle as Chetan removed him with a fuller length delivery just outside off and the opener got an edge.
But it helped them as the big hitter Chrisgayle joined Rahul and they put up 82 runs inside the 9th over. Just when Gayle looked more dangerous, young Riyan Parag removed him with the help of Ben Stoke, who took a stunner at long-on. And, once again his dismissal helped the team as Deepak Hooda came in the middle.
He came and started leaving his mark soon after. On the other hand, Rahul brought up his fifty off 30 balls while hitting a six. Soon, Hooda joined the party as he smashed two sixes off Shivam Dube in the same over. However, this was only the beginning as he smacked three more in the very next over off Shreyas Gopal and the duo put up 150 runs on the board in 14th over.
However, he reached his half-century off 20 balls and before doing more damage, Chris Morris sent him in the dugout for 64 off 28 with 4 fours and 6 sixes. Meanwhile, Rahul managed to do his onslaught before getting out in the final over for 91 off 50 with 7 fours and 5 sixes. Their smashing shots helped Punjab put up a massive total of 221 for 6 in 20 overs.
While chasing the total, Rajasthan Royals got off to a bizarre start as they lost their star batsman Ben Stokes for a duck, courtesy of Mohammed Shami. His dismissal brought the captain Sanju Samson in the middle who smashed a boundary in the very first over.
Although another opener Manan Vohra tried his best, he could only manage 12 off 8. The pressure fell upon Samson and Jos Buttler and the duo started to resurrect the chase. Soon Buttler smashed four back-to-back boundaries off Riley Meredith and their quick scores helped them posted 59 runs in the powerplay.
However, Richardson bowled Buttler with a slower delivery for 25 which left the team in much trouble too. Shivam Dube came and tried to support Samson, who scored his first fifty as RR captain off 33 balls. And, they reached the three-figure mark in the same over, i.e. 11th over.
But Dube wasn't able to stay long and left all the pressure on the shoulder of Samson, who got good support in Riyan Parag, who opened his account with a boundary off Arshdeep Singh. However, he got out for 25 off 11 with a boundary and 3 sixes.
On the other hand, Sanju Samson smacked two fours and a six in the 18th over and brought up his century off 54 balls and became the first player to get a hundred on IPL captaincy debut. He went berserk single-handedly in the final overs but his herculean effort went in vain as he got out in the final ball of the over while trying for a big shot and Punjab managed to win by 4 runs. He played a swashbuckling knock of 119 off 63 with 12 fours and 7 sixes as well.
