Sanju Samson endured a forgettable debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) today against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as he got out only for six runs off seven deliveries. Nandre Burger castled him with a beauty in the second over of the innings and that also triggered an early collapse for the five-time champions. Moreover, this failure also ended Samson's magical streak of the opening day in every IPL season.
For the previous six seasons from IPL 2020 to 2025, Samson notched up fifty-plus scores in his first outing of the edition and the streak ended on his CSK debut. His best score during this period was 119 runs against Punjab Kings in 2021 and in the previous edition, he scored 66 runs off 37 deliveries against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
However, on all those occasions, he turned for the Rajasthan Royals and today, against his former team, Samson flopped to end his fantastic streak of opening days in IPL.
Sanju Samson's performance in first match of season since IPL 2020
74 (32) vs CSK, 2020
119 (63) vs PBKS, 2021
55 (27) vs SRH, 2022
55 (32) vs SRH, 2023
82* (52) vs LSG, 2024
66 (37) vs SRH, 2025
6 (7) vs RR, 2026*
Nandre Burger and Archer leave CSK reeling
As far as the match is concerned, CSK unravelled most emphatically as they collapsed with Nandre Burger and Jofra Archer not letting any of their top order batters settle. None of their top four crossed the 6-run mark, even as Ayush Mhatre bagged a golden duck. With no Dewald Brevis in the playing XI, the CSK line-up is lacking the bite, leaving a lot to do for Shivam Dube. Having lost early wickets in their opening game, it remains to be seen now if the five-time champions will be able to post a decent total on the board.
Playing XIs
Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (capt), Shimron Hetmyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Brijesh Sharma
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Ayush Mhatre, Matt Short, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed
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