Sanju Samson stayed away from the spotlight of the Indian dressing room for a while, but on Tuesday night—during Chennai Super Kings’ chase against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium—he still kept in mind Gautam Gambhir’s team-first philosophy. The skipper chose the match result over a personal landmark, even though it came within reach of equalling one of Virat Kohli’s most celebrated IPL accomplishments.
CSK’s season had appeared close to over after a run of defeats in the early stretch of IPL 2026. Yet the five-time champions roared back by collecting five wins, climbing out of the lower half of the points table and dragging themselves into playoff contention. Samson played a key role in that turnaround, producing significant batting contributions in four of those victories.
The pattern became clear as CSK’s fortunes improved: whenever Samson stayed at the crease beyond the powerplay overs, Chennai ended up winning. In two of those instances, he converted his starts into centuries, while a third chance was set up on Tuesday against Delhi.
After launching 16 runs off T Natarajan in the 15th over, Samson was just 21 runs away from the milestone. Only three batters in IPL history have managed three or more centuries in a single season: Virat Kohli (four centuries in 2016), Jos Buttler (four in 2022), and Shubman Gill (three in 2023). With CSK needing just 18 runs to get over the line, it looked entirely possible that Samson could reach the mark. However, he allowed young Kartik Sharma to take charge of the final phase and Delhi’s chase was ultimately finished without the century.
Samson explained that he had made a conscious decision to go with “team over milestone,” a principle Gambhir had drilled into every member of the Indian setup from the start of his coaching tenure. When asked whether his 87 mattered more than a hundred, Samson responded with a smile, saying that centuries are always special—but he could not justify being selfish for the sake of a personal record, particularly as his batting partner was also in good rhythm. He added that completing the chase gave him more satisfaction than missing the landmark.
“Hundreds are always special,” Samson said when questioned on the missed ton. “But I felt I couldn’t be selfish and chase it for myself. When the other partner is also batting really well, I don’t want to put that pressure on. I knew the situation, and the priority was to win the game.”
He further elaborated, “Yeah, it was (about wanting the 100 against Delhi), but I thought I had to be a bit too selfish for that. So I decided, let’s win the game. The other partner was batting really well, and I didn’t want to tell him, ‘ek single de de yaar, main sau bana leta hoon’ [take a single, I’ll get my 100]. I didn’t say that. I really enjoyed it—coming not out and finishing the game gives you better satisfaction.”
CSK’s next match will be against Lucknow Super Giants on May 10.
