3rd T20I: Samson’s ton; Suryakumar’s 75 take India to highest-ever score of 297/6

Hyderabad, Oct 12 (IANS) A spectacular maiden T20I century by Sanju Samson along with captain Suryakumar Yadav’s scintillating 75 took India to a record-breaking 297/6 against Bangladesh in the third and final match of the series at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.

On the day of Dusshera, Samson and Suryakumar brought out fireworks ranging from splendid to brutal in their 173-run stand at a run-rate of 15.04 to leave Bangladesh shellshocked, as India posted its highest-ever T20I total. It is also the highest score posted by a full member of the ICC.

Samson, who had a lean run so far, broke the shackles in style by hitting 111 off 47 balls – laced with 11 fours and eight sixes at a strike-rate of 236.17 to hold the record for the second fastest T20I century by an Indian batter.

The lower-order maintained the momentum of Samson and Suryakumar, whose 75 came off 35 balls – laced with eight fours and five sixes – feasting on Bangladesh bowlers as India hit 22 sixes, 25 fours with a run rate of 14.85 in an extraordinary batting performance.

Electing to bat first, Samson showed signs of unleashing ruthless carnage on Bangladesh when he hit a brace of delightful drives and flicks -with good timing and placement written on all of them – off Taskin Ahmed in the second over.

After Abhishek Sharma fell cheaply to mark the end of his disappointing series with the bat, Suryakumar came out all guns blazing with a pull and flick off Tanzim Hasan Sakib going for four and six.

While Suryakumar quickly brought out his usual boundary-hitting self, Samson continued to use his crease very well to shower boundaries at will, as well as disrupt the line and length of the bowlers, as 82 runs came off the Power-play.

Samson got his fifty in 22 balls on the back of exquisite lofts over the off-side against Rishad Hossain, with a pull sandwiched in between. But the most jaw-dropping moment of the innings was when Samson, deep in the crease, flayed a lofted cover drive off Mustafizur Rahman, which had absolute class written all over it.

Samson left the Hyderabad crowd thrilled again when he hit five straight sixes off an erring Rishad in the arc between long-off and long-on. Shortly after Suryakumar got his fifty, Samson got his century in 40 balls with a four struck over Mahedi Hasan’s head, with a standing ovation from the crowd greeting him and a hug from Suryakumar – celebrating it by showing his biceps.

Samson’s enthralling knock ended at 111 off 47 balls when he pulled a leg-cutter from Mustafizur Rahman to deep square leg. In the next over, Suryakumar slogged straight to deep mid-wicket off Mahmudullah, who was playing his last T20I game.

Hardik Pandya and Riyan Parag continued entertaining the Hyderabad crowd and hit 11 boundaries between themselves before the duo and Nitish Kumar Reddy fell in quick succession. Birthday boy Rinku Singh thumped Tanzim for a six over long-on on the last ball of the innings in a grandstand finish for India.

Brief scores:

India 297/6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 111, Suryakumar Yadav 75; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 3-66) against Bangladesh

–IANS

nr/bsk/