Sanju Samson surpassed Ajinkya Rahane to become Rajasthan Royals’ all-time highest run-scorer during an IPL 2023 match against Punjab Kings. Samson achieved the feat by hitting a six off Arshdeep Singh’s delivery, which also signaled his attacking approach. He needed just three runs to surpass Rahane’s tally of 3098 runs for RR, and he became the first player of the franchise to cross the 3100-run mark. Samson accomplished this feat in 114 innings with an average of 30.46 and a strike rate of 138, scoring a total of 3138 runs for Rajasthan Royals.
Although Samson continued his attacking approach, he lost his rhythm after Jos Buttler’s injury and hit only one boundary in the next five overs. He was eventually dismissed for 42 off 25 balls while trying to muscle a wide delivery over mid-off. Samson’s dismissal became a turning point in the match, and despite valiant efforts from Shimron Hetmyer (36 off 18) and Dhruv Jurel (32 off 15), Rajasthan Royals fell five short of the target.
Besides Samson’s milestone, Yuzvendra Chahal surpassed Lasith Malinga to become the second-highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL. Chahal dismissed Jitesh Sharma for 27 in the 16th over despite struggling to grip the ball due to dew. He now has 171 wickets in 132 innings at an average of 21.58 and an economy rate of 7.62, while Malinga had 170 wickets for the Mumbai Indians in 122 innings. Chahal aims to surpass Amit Mishra’s 183 wickets and become the IPL’s leading wicket-taker in the same year.
