Watch: Sanju Samson smashes 22 runs against Gus Atkinson in second over

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson started the new year in a full mood as he smashed 22 runs in the second over of the chasing in the Kolkata T20I against the English pacer Gus Atkinson. The right-handed batter only dealt with the boundaries in that powerful over. 

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Sanju Samson hit 4,4,6,4,4

Chasing down the 133-run target, Sanju Samson faced all the first 12 balls of the second innings of the match. After scoring one run in the first over of Jofra Archer, Samson welcomed Atkinson with a four as the right-handed opening batter smashed a pull shot to a short delivery. On the next ball, Samson sweetly drove his bat as the ball traveled between cover and mid-off for another four. 

After a dot ball, Samson smashed a sixer over the cover. The opener scored the next two boundaries of the over through the on-side. After guiding the full ball between midwicket and mid-on, he just tucked the last ball for another four to the short fine leg.

Sanju Samson is in great form in T20I format

Samson scored 26 off 20 balls before Jofra Archer dismissed him. Before this T20I match, the right-handed batter hit three centuries in the previous five T20I innings. After scoring two back-to-back centuries against Bangladesh (111) at Hyderabad and against South Africa (107) at Durban, Samson scored two consecutive ducks at Gqeberha and Centurion, before his third T20I century in the Johannesburg T20I against South Africa (109*). He became the first batter to record three T20I centuries in a calendar year.  

At the end of the latest Kolkata T20I, the 30-year-old Samson has scored 836 runs in 38 T20I matches (34 innings) with an average of 27.86 and a strike rate of 154.24. Apart from three centuries, the right-handed batter has also recorded two T20I half-centuries.