Sanju Samson of Chennai Super Kings (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) Sanju Samson returned to form with a stunning century for Chennai Super Kings against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026, marking a decisive return to rhythm after a slow start to his new franchise career. After being traded from Rajasthan Royals to CSK, Samson endured a tough start to the season, failing to hit double figures in his first three outings. But in his fourth game, he produced a knock that reminded everyone of his class and consistency. After the early loss of Ruturaj Gaikwad in the over, Samson anchored the innings brilliantly, putting on a crucial 113-run partnership with youngster Ayush Mhatra, who made 59 before departing as CSK pressed for acceleration. Batting with fluency and control throughout, Samson survived a reprieve for 52 before making DC pay in style. He brought up a brilliant century, his fourth in the IPL, and commanded his innings with authority against both pace and spin. Expectations were high when he entered the season on the back of an excellent campaign that saw him win the Player of the Tournament award at the T20 World Cup and Samson ended up living up to them with an impressive knock. The milestone also saw him hit 400 sixes in T20 cricket, becoming only the fourth Indian to do so after Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav. Samson’s IPL century now reads: 102 vs RPS (Pune, 2017), 102* vs SRH (Hyderabad, 2019), 119 vs PBKS (Wankhede, 2021) and 102* vs DC (Chennai, 2026).Samson is now the only batsman to score a hundred for three different IPL franchises, including Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), RR and CSK. The innings also marked only the second IPL century by a CSK batsman against Delhi Capitals, after Murali Vijay’s 113 in 2012.
