Sanju Samson on the verge of joining Kohli, Yuvraj, and Dhoni with a major T20 record

Sanju Samson needs just 5 runs to complete 1000 runs in international T20 cricket. He has scored 995 runs in 43 innings across 51 international T20 matches, with the help of 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries.

Sanju Samson, India vs South Africa T20 Series: The Indian cricket team will begin their five-match T20 series against South Africa on Tuesday at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. In this match, two young batsmen, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma, have a great opportunity to achieve a special milestone. If both are included in the playing XI, they will become new names to complete 1,000 runs in T20 international cricket for India.

Sanju and Tilak to complete 1000 runs

Sanju Samson needs just 5 runs to reach this mark. He has scored 995 runs in 43 innings across 51 international T20 matches, with the help of 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries. On the other hand, Tilak Varma is even closer, needing only 4 runs. In 33 innings across 36 matches, Tilak has hit 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries, and has 996 runs to his name. This match in Cuttack could be a memorable one for both batsmen.

Batsmen with 1,000 or more runs in international T20 for India

Virat Kohli – 4,188 runs
Suryakumar Yadav – 2,754 runs
KL Rahul – 2,265 runs
Hardik Pandya – 1,860 runs
Shikhar Dhawan – 1,759 runs
MS Dhoni – 1,617 runs
Suresh Raina – 1,605 runs
Rishabh Pant – 1,209 runs
Yuvraj Singh – 1,177 runs
Shreyas Iyer – 1,104 runs
Abhishek Sharma – 1,012 runs

Sanju Samson's place in the playing XI is not confirmed

However, Sanju Samson's place in the playing XI is not confirmed. After Shubman Gill established himself as an opener in the T20 team, Samson was pushed to the middle order, where his bat did not perform as before. In the recent matches of the Australia T20 series, Jitesh Sharma was preferred over him. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see whether captain Suryakumar Yadav trusts Sanju as the wicketkeeper or gives an opportunity to Jitesh. Tilak Varma is almost certain to get a chance to play in the middle order.