Sanju Samson 100 vs Lucknow Super Giants – 2023 IPL

Lore & Background

By the time IPL 2023 rolled around, Rajasthan Royals had shed the early-season optimism of their 2008 title and were in a rebuilding phase. Sanju Samson, who had been with the franchise since its inception in 2008, had finally been handed the captaincy and the No. 3 or No. 4 batting slot with the full weight of expectation behind it. The Lucknow Super Giants, a new franchise in their second season, were a tough test—aggressive bowling, a young squad hungry to prove themselves.

Samson's response was almost philosophical in its calm. He did not flinch. Ball after ball, he rotated the strike with a patience that belied the 50-ball window, then—when the moment came—unleashed a series of shots that turned the stadium into a cauldron of pink. The 100 was not merely a score; it was a narrative reset. It told every sceptic that the franchise's soul was not in a foreign import's contract but in a boy from Kerala who had bled for this jersey for fifteen years.

In the broader canon of RR history, the innings sits alongside the 2008 title run and the 2013 playoff push as a moment where individual brilliance and team identity fused. Fans still reference it in the same breath as the franchise's founding mythology: 'That's when we knew Samju was ours.'

Reader's Guide

The scene: Lucknow Super Giants have set a target. Rajasthan Royals, under captain Sanju Samson, are in the middle of their innings. The early wickets have fallen, and the chase is wobbling. Samson, the wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala, is at the crease with the weight of the franchise on his shoulders.

The turning point comes when Samson, rather than playing for the dot ball, decides to seize the initiative. He starts rotating the strike with crisp back-foot work, finding the gaps that the LSG bowlers keep leaving. Then the tempo shifts. A pull. A straight drive. The scoreboard jumps in twos and threes. The 50-ball window that the bowlers hoped would contain him becomes the canvas for something extraordinary.

100. Not out. Fifty balls. The stadium—packed in pink—erupts. Samson walks off with his bat raised, the quiet Kerala boy who has been the constant in every RR dressing room since 2008 finally delivering the innings that made the franchise feel like his franchise.

Why it lives in Pink Army memory: it was the moment the captaincy stopped being a title and became a promise. Every RR fan who was there that night carries the sound of that final over in their chest like a second heartbeat. It is the innings they tell their kids about. That's when we knew.

Did You Know?

• The 100 was scored in just 50 balls, making it one of the fastest centuries of the 2023 IPL season.
• Samson is from Kerala, making him one of the few non-North-Indian players to become the face of a franchise rooted in Rajasthan.