Sanju Samson created history by scoring 5 runs in Ahmedabad, the third wicketkeeper to do so for India in T20.

By Samira Vishwas On Dec 21, 2025

The fifth and last match of the T20 series between India and South Africa is being played on Friday, December 19 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In this match, South Africa won the toss and decided to bowl first. There were three changes in the Indian team, where due to injury of Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson got a chance in the playing eleven for the first time in the series.

Sanju Samson started his innings cautiously and opened the account on the third ball. After this, he hit a six on the last ball of the second over off Marco Yansen. This six proved to be historic for him, because with this he completed 1000 runs in T20 International for India.

Before this match, Sanju needed only 5 runs to reach this point and he achieved it without any pressure. With this, he became the 14th Indian batsman and the third wicket-keeper batsman to complete 1000 runs for India in T20 International.

Most runs as a wicketkeeper for India in T20 International:

MS Dhoni – 98 (matches) – 1617 (runs as wicketkeeper) – 1617 (total runs)
Rishabh Pant – 64 (matches) – 996 (runs as wicketkeeper) – 1209 (total runs)
Sanju Samson – 35 (matches) – 706 (runs as wicketkeeper) – 1033 (total runs)

Sanju is the third Indian wicketkeeper batsman after MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant to score 1000 or more runs in T20 Internationals. However, Sanju has not scored all his 1000 runs in the role of wicketkeeper.

Talking about Sanju’s innings, in this match he added 37 runs in 22 balls and gave a fast start to the team by making a partnership of 63 runs in 34 balls with Abhishek Sharma for the first wicket.

Teams for this match

South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (captain), Dewald Brewis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, George Linde, Marco Johnson, Corbin Bosch, Lungi Ngidi, Otniel Bartman.

India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.