Sanju Samson’s hundred gives CSK first win of IPL 2026
After three silent outings, Sanju Samson rediscovered his batting range with a fabulous hundred and bowlers’ fangs regrew as Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi Capitals by 23 runs to register their first win of IPL 2026 here on Saturday.
Samson (115 not out, 56 balls) and Ayush Mhatre (59, 36 balls) milked 113 runs for the second wicket to power CSK to a competitive 212 for two and the Delhi Capitals stumbled against Jamie Overton’s superb spell (4/18) to get bundled out for 189.
Tristan Stubbs (60) delayed the inevitable for DC with a gutsy half-century.
While it was the super Kings’ first win of the season, the Capitals slumped to their second defeat in a row.
Chasing 213, Delhi made a bold start, making 61 in just five overs through a fine stand between openers KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka (41).
But the dismissal of Nissanka took some steam away from DC. Nissanka, whose catch was grassed by Khaleel Ahmed off Anshul Kamboj, could not use the let off as he spooned the next ball off the pacer to Dewald Brevis at the edge of the circle.
At 61 for two in 5.2 overs, DC were still in a good position but the Chennai bowlers redrafted their strategy at this stage.
Their pacers — Overton, Khaleel and Kamboj — began to bash the ball into the red-soil surface and extracted good bounce, cramping the DC batters for space to execute their shots effectively.
Sameer Rizvi and Axar Patel fell to such deliveries, and Sarfaraz Khan played a big role in the latter’s dismissal with a tremendous full-length diving catch at point.
They still had David Miller and Tristan Stubbs at their roster to challenge CSK, but Overton’s lovely hard-length ball clipped Miller’s leg-stump bails to compound the worries for the Delhi side.
But Samson was the chief architect of CSK’s wonderful Chepauk night.
After being asked to bat first, Sasmson brought up his first substantial knock in a yellow jersey, and was involved in an excellent stand with Mhatre, who underlined his massive potential in bold letters, for the second wicket — 113 runs in a little over 11 overs.
It was Samson’s fourth IPL hundred, the first for CSK and the first one in this IPL season.
A big score from Samson was essential for himself and CSK to restore the belief of ‘Anbu-den’ faithfuls in their team, and he did that on the night with a brilliant innings in front of home fans.
It was the typical Samson innings. The Kerala batter had looked unsure of his feet and field placings in earlier matches this season, but on this instance a familiar Samson returned.
The feet, eyes and hands rediscovered their coordination and consequently the shots flowed in all directions off the field.
However, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad failed to accelerate even in Power Play, and his 62-run opening wicket alliance was entirely built on Samson’s aggression.
Samson gave an early indication of his touch with two back-to-back fours off pacer Mukesh Kumar but the stand out shot during his stint was a six over extra cover off left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
Fortune too lent its assistance to Samson as he was dropped on 55 by Pathum Nissanka near long-off off Axar Patel.
The 31-year-old fully exploited his reprieve and made DC pay for their lapse. Samson fetched his fifty in 26 balls, one less than Mhatre, and hundred in 52 balls as CSK moved on nicely.
Mhatre, on the other hand, was a real treat to watch until he was retired out after a well-compiled knock, to give the big-hitting Shivam Dube a chance.
But till that moment, Mhatre entertained the Chepauk crowd with some handsome shots.
