New record for Malayali star batsman; Player of the tournament already?

AHMEDABAD: Malayali player Sanju Samson scored his third consecutive half-century in the World Cup today. Sanju V Samson looked the most confident today and seemed like he would not even stop even at a century. However, the century dream fell apart as the player was dismissed at 89 runs. His innings included eight sixes and five fours. Sanju came close to becoming the first Indian to score a century in a World Cup final, but alas.

Sanju, who scored an unbeaten 97 against the Windies in the final match of the Super Eights, also scored 89 against England in the semi-finals. The Thiruvananthapuram native also created a record of becoming only the third player to score a half-century in both the semi-finals and final of the World Cup. In his post-semi-final response, Sanju Samson had made it clear that his goal was not to score a century but to score maximum runs for the team.

Meanwhile, despite missing a century, the chances of Sanju being selected as the player of the World Cup increased. The Malayali played five matches in the tournament. In these, he scored a total of 321 runs, including three half-centuries. Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan is the only player to score more than 300 runs in the tournament. It is noteworthy how Sanju upended his career after being ignored at the start of the tournament and not even making it into the playing eleven for consecutive games.