Chenani Super Kings opener Sanju Samson once again proved his mettle in the ongoing IPL 2026. The keeper-batter smacked unbeaten 101 runs off 54 deliveries as the visitors posted 207 runs on the board at the Wankhede Stadium. With little to no support from the other end, Samson took the matter into his own hands and played some sensational cricket in the middle. He had a slow start to the match, with Ruturaj Gaikwad dictating the play early on, but once Samson entered his zone, he proved difficult to stop.
With the century, Samson now joined Rohit Sharma on the elite list of most centuries by an Indian in T20 cricket. Abhishek Sharma with nine and Virat Kohli with eight are first and second on the list. Samson and Rohit, on the other hand, have seven tons to their name in the format.
Apart from Samson, the Kerala-based cricketer also became the first keeper-batter in IPL history to hit two centuries in a single edition of the competition. Overall, he stands second behind Quinton de Kock for most centuries by a keeper-batter in T20 cricket history.
Meanwhile, at the halfway mark, Mumbai were relatively happy as CSK looked a few runs short. Ashwini Kumar and AM Ghazanfar had a good day in the middle, claiming two wickets each. On the other hand, Gaikwad finished as CSK’s second-leading run-scorer, having scored only 23 runs. That defines the role Samson played and how well he carried the team throughout different phases of the game.
What happened in the second innings?
Chennai bowlers dominated with the ball in the second innings. They adapted to the conditions well, as Mumbai were reduced to 11/3 at one stage. Quinton de Kock departed for seven runs off 11 balls, while young Danish Malewar departed for a golden duck. Naman Dhir soon followed suit with a three-ball duck.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma managed to keep the scoreboard ticking for a while, stitching a 73-run partnership, but once they departed for 36 and 37 runs, respectively, Mumbai stumbled again. Captain Hardik Pandya departed for just one run and since then, it was only a matter of time for Chennai to get the job done. Notably, Akeal Hosein was the star with the ball for CSK, claiming four wickets, while Noor Ahmad dominated the middle overs, picking two.
They eventually won the match by a massive margin of 103 runs, while Mumbai lost their fifth game of the season and with that, their playoff hopes are further demolished.
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