Sanju Samson marked his first game as Rajasthan Royals captain by smashing a century and coming close to pulling off an unlikely victory over Punjab Kings in the IPL on Monday.
Instead, it was KL Rahul's Punjab who held their nerves to win by four runs, with seamer Arshdeep Singh dismissing Samson (119 from 63 balls) off the last ball of the match with five needed for victory. He hit 12 fours and seven sixes during his innings.
Punjab’s total of 221-6 never looked enough, especially after Samson twice got dropped before completing his half century and then successfully overturned an lbw decision against him soon after crossing the 50-run mark.
“The second part of my innings was my best IPL performance,” Samson said. “I really enjoy my shots … the sixes come out naturally, and in that process I tend to lose my wickets also.”
Needing 13 off left-arm fast bowler Singh’s last over, Samson brought down the target to five off two balls with a six. But Singh kept his cool to finish with impressive figures of 3-45 as Rajasthan ended up at 217-7.
“Heart rate was high but I didn’t stop believing, we knew a couple of wickets would bring us back,” Punjab captain KL Rahul, who earlier top-scored with 91, said.
“I had gone to Arshdeep for crucial overs last year too. He doesn’t mind bowling the pressure overs, he seems to enjoy it. He loves being in the contest. Love throwing him the ball. He’s pretty clear with what he wants to do.”
Earlier, after being put into bat, Rahul and Deepak Hooda (64) ensured Punjab set a stiff target. Rajasthan’s multi-million dollar signing Chris Morris was hit for 41 off four overs before getting Hooda and Nicholas Pooran in his last over.
Bangladesh’s left-arm fast bowler Mustafizur Rehman gave away 45 runs without getting a wicket as Samson rotated eight bowlers without much success.
Rahul and Hooda combined in a 105-run stand with the Punjab captain smashing seven fours and five sixes. Hooda hit six sixes and four boundaries in his quickfire knock off just 28 balls before falling in Morris’ return spell.
Rahul looked set for his century but Chetan Sakariya had him caught on the edge of midwicket boundary in the last over as the young fast bowler impressed in a high-scoring game and finished with 3-31.
