IND vs SA 2025: Sanju Samson registers twin feats in Ahmedabad T20I

Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson made his international comeback in fine fashion by claiming two significant  milestones on December 19. Samson came in for T20I vice-captain Shubman Gill for the final T20I of the five-match series in Ahmedabad.

He went past the 1,000-run mark in T20Is and also became only the eighth Indian cricketer to go past 8,000 runs in T20 cricket, joining a prestigious list which comprises the likes of former T20I cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Indian batters with 8000-plus runs in Men’s T20s:

Samson’s first appearance for India since the tour of Australia proved to be a successful one. Batting at the top of the order in place of Gill, the 31-year-old was able to outshine even Abhishek Sharma to play some wonderful shots to the boundary. His 22-ball 37-run knock comprised a total of four fours and two sixes. It took an incredible delivery from George Linde to get rid of Samson.

Speaking of the match, the hosts posted 231/5 on the board, courtesy of the openers’ starts and quickfire half-centuries from Tilak Varma (73 off 42) and Hardik Pandya (63 off 25). The Men in Blue had been invited to bat first after Aiden Markram won the toss earlier in the evening. Every other bowler other than Lungi Ngidi (0/29 in 4 overs) travelled the distance.

The Proteas started off positively within the powerplay. They posted 67/0 in the first six overs. However, regular fall of wickets from that point weakened their position. Despite being expensive this time around, Varun Chakravarthy enjoyed yet another wicket-filled outing. He picked up four wickets while conceding 53 runs in his quota. India ended up winning the match by 30 runs.