IPL 2026: Sanju Samson Stands Steady to Give Wankhede Another Reason to Turn Yellow

Sanju Samson's story is one that commands a lot of love and respect. From struggling for opportunities, Sanju Samson stands steady as a silent but dominant force. His teammates love him, and fans adore him. A steady century was proof with applause coming first from his national teammates in opposing colors in Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, and then the applause from his franchise teammates. When Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya are the ones coming to hug an opposing team's player, the volume of that player's respect speaks on its own.

Ten days ago, Sanju Samson had the home crowd in Chepauk banging their seats. They had little to cheer for with three losses to start the series. The legend MS Dhoni was also out of the line-up with an injury, and the stadium was finding it tough to maintain energy until a new hero in Sanju Samson emerged for the franchise.

This time, though, the scene shifted to the Wankhede Stadium. Scenes were Sanju Samson played a match-defining semi-final knock against England a month ago, and this time the crowd was not on his side, or so it seemed. IPL's greatest rivalry, and in this scenario, Mumbai had their tails up with a commanding win against the Gujarat Titans. The Mumbai Indians are also a side that takes time to get into stride and tend to find their rhythm at this stage of the tournament.

For CSK, they were coming into this game having failed to chase a 180+ score yet again, with none chased since 2018. The odds were against them. The first innings, though, had it go in a balanced manner. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sarfaraz Khan punched, but Mumbai were quick to counter-punch. Shivam Dube struggled to get going, and Dewald Brevis punched as well but was quick to take the hit back to the dugout. 

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Wickets kept falling at the other end, but one man was standing calm and steady. Sanju Samson, starting with some risk-free boundaries, batted with incredible timing in the Wankhede Stadium, very similar to another Wankhede legend, Rohit Sharma. He was set, and when Sanju Samson is set, he goes big. Mumbai, though, was doing well to keep the momentum from going CSK's way. Wickets at regular intervals, and it was a proper set-up for a CSK-MI classic.

To add to CSK's struggles, the pitch was holding a touch, and with Jamie Overton at 7, the batting line-up was not the deepest. Sanju Samson, though, continued to stand tall. After blazing through the power play, he reassessed and waited. He followed the CSK and MS Dhoni template of taking the innings deep, and when the debutant Krish Bhagat bowled, Sanju Samson capitalized. 

It was a collected strategy with Samson taking minimal risk of Bumrah and setting a final over one-on-one with the debutant. The gambles paid off with Sanju Samson going to 101 in the Final ball of the innings. It was an innings away from home but that did not stop a single person in the crowd from standing and applauding a player who has grown from the ground up and is now one of the most important Indian batters going around. While the fans did come in Yellow to see MS Dhoni, they were given the pleasure of staying for a Sanju special in the hope that he can continue to entertain the men in yellow for the years to come.