India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson on Saturday slammed his maiden T20I century during the third and final match of the series against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. He reached the milestone in just 40 balls, becoming India’s second fastest centurion in T20Is. He hit a boundary straight down the ground to complete his century. However, on his way to his highest individual T20I score, Samson slammed Bangladesh spinner Rishad Hossain for five consecutive sixes in the 10th over of India’s innings. He was eventually dismissed for 117 (47) in the 14th over by Mustafizur Rahman.

Sanju Samson – you beauty!#IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy #INDvBAN #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/JsJ1tPYKgD

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) October 12, 2024

Earlier, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to bat first. 

India have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, and a win on Saturday will help them get a clean sweep over Bangladesh, who also lost the preceding Test series 2-0.

For the third T20I, fast-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana was not considered for selection as he was unavailable due to a viral infection and did not travel with the Indian team to the stadium.

“Looks a good wicket and we said last game we wanted to bat first. Want to set a target and defend. Happy Dussehra everyone and good to see everyone at the ground even though we are 2-0 up.”

“It’s important to follow good habits, sometimes you can get complacent after winning the series. We just want to give a lot of freedom to the person coming into bat despite the game situation,” said India skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said Tanzid Tamim and Mahedi Hasan made it to the playing eleven in what is also veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah’s last T20I game.

“I am happy to bowl first, so doesn’t matter. Want to take responsibility as a batting group – hope they do something special today. Consistency is one area we need to improve. I hope the whole 40 overs we’ll do something special.”

(With IANS Inputs)