"Lone warrior for CSK": Fans hail Sanju Samson after stunning century vs Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026

In the El Clasico of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), match no.33 at the Wankhede Stadium, Sanju Samson brought up his second hundred for CSK in the IPL 2026. He was excellent throughout the first innings and held on the other end.

Sanju Samson did not have the best of starts to the tournament, as he failed in the first three games for his new franchise, but now he has been at his very best. Sanju looked in deft touch from the very first ball he played and controlled the innings and played some excellent cricketing shots. Sanju Samson scored a boundary on the last ball to score his hundred.

Sanju Samson stands tall for CSK

Sanju Samson was batting at 85 when the last over started, and he smacked 16 runs off the last over of Krish Bhagat to bring up his second IPL century this season. He went back with the score of 101* off 54 balls. With his hundred, CSK went past the 200 run mark as the Men in Yellow side scored 207/6 at the end of 20 overs.

The wicket-keeper batter becomes the first player to hit 2 centuries in #IPL2026. This is his 5th 89+ score in T20s in the last 8 weeks. He also became the 5th Indian batter ever to score two centuries in a single IPL season. He started poorly in the first three innings, scoring 22 runs, and in the next four, he has scored 271 runs.

Can CSK defend the total

Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field first. CSK, after being invited to bat first, had a good start, with Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring aggressively, but he could not convert the start of 22 runs into a big score and was dismissed. Then the wickets kept on falling and Samson stuck at one end.

Then a small cameo of Dewald Brevis scoring 21 off 11 balls pulled up the run rate in the middle overs. However, CSK could not keep up with the momentum, and the flurry of wickets in the middle overs pushed them on the back foot.

Though Samson had other ideas, he stuck to the end and put CSK to a good total. Allah Ghazanfar was the pick of the bowlers with four overs, 2/25.

Fans react as Sanju Samson scores century

He has been a lone warrior for CSK. He is batting Brilliantly Under Pressure. He is showing is Class. CSK'S batting heavily depends on Sanju Samson. He is in Sublime form

— Shivansh rajpal (@RajpalShiv46534) April 23, 2026

WE ARE LIVING IN BEAST SANJU SAMSON ERA🥵🔥

Chetta MASTERCLASS at wankhede pic.twitter.com/Vqgfp8scPQ

— Pikachu (@11eleven_4us) April 23, 2026

🚨 Sanju Samson is only the 5th Indian batter EVER to score 2 centuries in a single IPL season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ObWqcu76Lm

— TheWicketReport (@WicketReport) April 23, 2026

CHETTA IN LAST 4 GAMES FOR CSK:💛

115* (56) vs Delhi Capitals.
48 (32) vs Kolkata Knight Riders.
7 (3) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
101* (54) vs Mumbai Indians.

First 3 matches for CSK - 22 runs.
Next 4 matches for CSK - 271 runs.

SAMSON IS RULING IN THIS SEASON. GOOD TRADE… pic.twitter.com/FAS19J2SoN

— Danish (@BhttDNSH100) April 23, 2026

Sanju ‘RUN MACHINE’ Samson becomes the first player to hit 2 centuries in #IPL2026. This is his 5th 89+ score in T20s in the last 8 weeks. I’ve never seen a player who has gone big so consistently in this format, but that’s what sets #SanjuSamson apart from others.#MIvCSK… pic.twitter.com/bsV6xJQcRk

— Tejan Shrivastava (@BeingTeJan) April 23, 2026

Sanju -101*- Samson 🫡🔥#tataipl2026 #iplt20 #mivcsk#csk #mi

— Mr.KalyanPSPK61🔥😎 (@kalyanpspk61) April 23, 2026

Samson has to do 3 jobs in this Mokka batting line up CSK team

Opener
Middle order
Finisher
Slogger

— Sakthi (@Sakthi297) April 23, 2026

great innings by samson

— sanjeev Dsr (@Varisuthehunter) April 23, 2026

Also Read: Mitchell Santner OUT OF IPL? New Zealand captain injures his shoulder while taking catch during MI vs CSK clash