Ajay Jadeja expressed disappointment on Sanju Samson missing out maiden international ton

Former Indian batter Ajay Jadeja expressed his dismay at Sanju Samson not being able to score his maiden century in the 2nd T20 International against Ireland after having a good start and reaching his half-century in a quick time. Jadeja expected Samson to score a century but Samson was bowled in the 17th over after scoring a brisk 77. While most of the Indian fans got hooked on the power-packed batting of Deepak Hooda during the final fixture of the bilateral T20 International Series against Ireland, Sanju Samson too grabbed many eyes with a remarkable comeback innings for the Indian outfit. During the game, the Indian opener recorded his first T20 half-century for India and stitched an important 176-run stand with Hooda leading the side to post a mammoth 200-plus score. While being asked by former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja about his say on not getting to the ton, the Rajasthan Royals skipper noted that he was just enjoying the game without being bothered about any milestone. Jadeja, who was quite hopeful about Samson breaching the 100-run mark, expressed his disappointment during the post-match conversation. However, the Kerala cricketer, seemingly satisfied with his knock, said, “It was a good match and so the partnership we made. There were some movements off the track and bowlers were delivering around the right area.” He also praised Hooda for clinching the century on such a tricky wicket and noted that at some points, he was just giving the strike to Hooda who was in a destructive mood. “We communicated well, I was happy to give the strike to him when he was hitting like that,” he explained. During the later part of the game, Hooda also assisted well as he kept rolling the strike and allowed Samson to come forward. Though he fell a few runs short of getting the century, the innings in the comeback game no doubt boosted his confidence. According to him, it would help him in future to register some good knocks for the Men in Blue. He replied to Jadeja saying, “Soon, I would like to get to that kind of a score (century). I’m very happy with the way I also batted.” Following the response, Jadeja apologised for being a bit harsh and asserted that he loves to watch Samson batting. Apart from Jadeja, Graeme Swann was also quite sure of Samson getting to his maiden century for India. “We would like to see you get those bigger totals when you get in there”, Jadeja said towards the end of conversation. Acknowledging the words, Samson thanked him and said, “It will definitely keep me pushing and I’ll try to score more runs in upcoming games.” The 27-year-old batter smashed 77 runs off 42 deliveries. His innings was laced with as many as 9 boundaries and 4 maximums. Powered by his innings and Hooda’s 57-ball 104, the Hardik Pandya-led young brigade put up 225 runs on the board. In reply, Ireland fell just 4 runs short of getting to the target.   Keywords: