The India vs Afghanistan third and final T20I match is ongoing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi. During the match, Sanju Samson achieved a new milestone in the match as he scored 9000 runs in T20s. He joined an elite list of Indian batters who have achieved the milestone previously. This is a historic moment for the wicketkeeper-batter.
India have already won the series <a href="https://cricket.international/pleasing-to-the-eye-shreyas-iyer-hails-abhishek-sharma-after-india-complete-3-0-sweep-against-afghanistan/" title="“Pleasing to the eye”: Shreyas Iyer hails Abhishek Sharma after India complete 3-0 sweep against Afghanistan”>against Afghanistan after winning their first two matches in dominating fashion. In the last game, Sanju Samson smashed a blistering fifty and took the game away from the Afghans. He has been in and out of the team due to his poor consistency but has been a match-winner for the side when in full flow.
Sanju Samson joins elite Indian list
Sanju Samson needed 23 runs to complete his 9,000 T20 runs during the 4.3 over when his catch was dropped by skipper Ibrahim Zadran off Mohammad Nabi’s ball. He took a single to achieve the milestone and enter the list of elite cricketers. He only became the fifth India to get to this milestone in 334 innings and is currently batting on 40.
Apart from him, three four India captains, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Shikhar Dhawan have achieved the milestone. In T20Is, he went past 1,500 runs in his 69th T20I (61 innings) and is behind Rohit, Kohli, SKY, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, MS Dhoni, and Suresh Raina.
Fastest Indians to 9,000 T20 runs (by innings) and current tally:
Virat Kohli – 271 innings – Current tally: 14,218 runs
Shikhar Dhawan – 308 innings – Current tally: 9,797 runs
Suryakumar Yadav – 321 innings – Current tally: 9,729 runs
Rohit Sharma – 308 innings – Current tally: 12,531 runs
Sanju Samson- 334 innings- Current tally: 9,009* runs
India off to a flying start
Coming to the match, Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran won the toss and opted to field first. They made two changes: Gulbadin Naib and Noor Ahmed were not playing. India made one change, bringing in Yash Thakur in place of Arshdeep Singh in a dead rubber game. Shreyas Iyer’s side had a fiery start as they scored 100 inside the powerplay.
Abhishek Sharma went berserk in the final game of the series as he smacked the Afghan bowlers all over the park. The Men in Blue made a record after scoring a hundred inside the powerplay, as they did it for the first time in T20Is, beating their previous 95/1 record at the Wankhede Stadium.
Abhishek Sharma scores fastest hundred
Sanju Samson was the anchor between him and Abhishek Sharma as the Southpaw broke all the records, smashing the fastest hundred by an Indian and breaking Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball hundred record as Abhishek scored his ton in 30 balls, smashing 11 sixes and 9 fours in his innings; he was dismissed for 108 runs.
The hundred by Abhishek is also the fastest T20I hundred among the full member nations. India are in a very good position at the moment with just two wickets down and 8 overs remaining, as the score is 155/2.
Source: cricketaddictor.com
