Mark Boucher hails 'special' Sanju Samson hundred: This is what he needs

Former South Africa cricketer and coach Mark Boucher had the brilliant innings from Sanju Samson. Boucher hoped that Samson gets confidence from his century and goes on to have a long career for India.

In Short

• Sanju Samson hit a terrific century in Durban
• Samson became the first India player to hit back to back T20I hundreds
• Boucher hailed the wicketkeeper batter after his innings

Former South Africa cricketer Mark Boucher hailed Sanju Samson for his terrific innings in Durban on Friday, November 8. Samson hit a century in just 47 balls, becoming the first India player to score back to back centuries in the T20I format. Samson also became only the third batter among full time nations to achieve this feat.

While commentating in the mid-innings break, Boucher hailed Samson and hoped that the batter would take confidence from these two innings and go onto settle his place in the Indian T20I team. Samson debut foe India back in 2015, but it was only under the regime of Gautam Gambhir that he was given a long rope in the Indian team

"I think South Africa got their bowling combinations really wrong. They gave the ball to spinners early on. If you are an Indian batters, who would you rather face at the start, a spinner or a pacer. But ya, Samson, what a player. To me it is quite surprising that he has not played more games for India and this might be what he needs, just a kick on with a couple of good innings and you can see how good he is to watch," Boucher said on Jio Cinema on Friday.

SA vs IND, 1st T20I: Live Score and Reactions

Sanju Samson's terrific knock was the highlight of the Indian innings. The Rajasthan Royals captain started off slowly but lit up once South Africa fed spin to him in the powerplay. Samson overshadowed the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma who played useful cameos in the Indian innings.

SA vs IND, 1st T20I: Full Scorecard

India's batting was in a very good place when Samson was taking the attack to the bowlers, but lost momentum in the final third of the innings after Samson was dismissed in the 16th over. After Samson's dismissal, India lost Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patek and Ravi Bishnoi in quick succession marking a timid end to their innings.

At one point in time time, India were 162/2 in just 14 overs, threatening the T20I record book once again, just like they did against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. However, the dismissals of Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson in a space of 7 balls hurt the Indian innings.