Sanju Samson delivered a controlled yet decisive century to power Chennai Super Kings to 207/6 against Mumbai Indians, an innings that was as much about restraint as it was about calculated aggression at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, April 23.
Samson started at full tilt, racing to 44 off just 20 balls, taking advantage of the powerplay and forcing Mumbai onto the back foot early. However, as wickets fell around him he recalibrated, scoring just 15 runs off his next 14 deliveries as he prioritised caution over acceleration.
Samson brought up his fifty off 26 balls with a boundary against Ashwani Kumar in the 11th over.
With CSK in danger of losing momentum, Samson ensured stability before launching again at the death, finishing unbeaten on 101 off 54 balls, his second IPL century of the season and fifth overall.
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He went into the final over batting on 85 but hammered Krish Bhagat for two sixes before finding a boundary off the final delivery to bring up his century.
Samson's innings is now the highest score by a CSK batter against MI in what is commonly referred to as the 'El Classico' of the IPL. His 101* also makes Samson the first CSK batter to score a hundred against Mumbai.
His fifth IPL century also puts him among an elite group of players with 5 IPL Centuries. He now sits level with KL Rahul, trailing only Virat Kohli (8), Jos Buttler (7), and Chris Gayle (6) in the list for most IPL hundreds.
CSK and MI have identical records at the start of the season with four losses and two wins from their first six matches. The winner of the 'El Clasico' at Wankhede will stay alive in the race for the playoffs, while the losing side will be left needing a near-perfect run in the second half of the campaign to remain in contention.
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