Sanju Samson falls 7 shy of 1,000 T20I runs in Asia Cup final against Pakistan

Sanju Samson was on the verge of reaching a personal milestone in his T20I career during the Asia Cup final against Pakistan; however, the Kerala star fell just 7 runs short of completing 1,000 runs.

Sanju was just 31 runs away from reaching the 1,000-run milestone in T20Is before the start of the match, but was dismissed for 24 runs off 21 balls. His innings came to an end in the 12th over, when Abrar Ahmed claimed his wicket, with Sahibzada Farhan taking the catch.

Earlier, in the 8th over, Samson was handed a lifeline. Attempting a pull shot off Abrar, he mistimed it, giving Hussain Talat a chance at a diving catch. However, Talat couldn’t hold on, and the batters managed to take a single.

Walking in to bat in the 4th over after the dismissal of Shubman Gill, with India struggling at 20/3, Sanju Samson stitched a crucial 57-run partnership with Tilak Varma. It could have been a golden opportunity for him to reach a personal milestone, especially since he spent most of the tournament either batting lower down the order or not getting a chance to bat at all. 

So far in the tournament, Sanju has featured in seven matches, including the final, but has batted in only four innings, scoring a total of 132 runs. His highest score, a well-made 56 off 45, came against Oman, where he batted at No 3 position.

Moreover, after the game against Sri Lanka during the tournament, Sanju became India’s leading wicketkeeper-batsman in terms of sixes hit in T20Is. With three sixes in that match, he took his tally to 55 sixes in just 48 innings, surpassing MS Dhoni’s record of 52 sixes in 85 innings. He currently has 56 sixes to his name.