Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson scored a brilliant century that almost saw his team home in a high-scoring match at the Wankhede Stadium against the Punjab Kings on April 12. However, Arshdeep Singh held his nerve in the final over and did not allow the opposition to run away with the match. Even though the Royals fell four runs short, Samson became the first player in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to score a century on the tournament captaincy debut.

Samson finished with 119 runs off 63 balls. During his knock, Samson hit 12 boundaries and seven sixes and displayed a strike rate of 188.89.

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He achieved the feat in the 18th over. Jhye Richardson bowled a wide full-toss outside off, Samson got low and sliced the ball square of the third man to not only collect a boundary but also reach the three-figure mark. With this, he also racked up his third IPL hundred.

Dropped twice – on 12 and on 35 – Samson finished the match with the highest score by a Royals batsman. The right-handed batsman also notched up 2000 runs for the RR in IPL, becoming the third player to do so after Ajinkya Rahane (2810) and Shane Watson (2372).

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Other stats of the match.

In the list of most centuries in the IPL, Samson is tied fourth with AB de Villiers (3); Chris Gayle leads the list with six, while the Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli is second with five under his belt.

In the list of highest individual scores, batting second, Samson is tied second with former Indian opener Virender Sehwag (119 for the now-defunct Virender Sehwag against the Deccan Chargers in 2011).

Paul Valthathy leads the list with an unbeaten 120 against the Chennai Super Kings in 2011.

In the list of highest individual scores in a defeat, Samson stands second. Delhi Capitals’ captain Rishabh Pant leads the list with an unbeaten 128 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018.

The Rajasthan Royals will aim to bounce back from this defeat and face the Delhi Capitals in their next IPL encounter on Thursday.