One season into Sanju Samson’s IPL captaincy and it’s for everyone to see the significant transformation in his overall gameplay. While he is the same man as before, with the same humility, same urge to grow, there’s something more charismatic about his batting. We can’t say it was captaincy that changed his approach because Sanju himself believes in keeping the two roles mutually exclusive, but his batting did evolve in the IPL 2021 season. But, well, the maturity could’ve come about because the Rajasthan Royals skipper is only 26 and ever embracing growth. 

 A season of new heights

The recently concluded season was inarguably Sanju Samson’s best-ever season in the IPL be it for the number of runs he amassed or in terms of average. For the first time in his five years of playing in the IPL, his batting average touched 40. Meanwhile, he still maintained a brilliant strike rate of 136.7. His 63-ball 119, which came in the opener of IPL 2021 against Punjab Kings which was also his first IPL match as captain, is also his highest T20 score. With that, he has continued with his trend of scoring a century every alternate season (2017, 2019, 2021).

With the aforementioned hundred, in a heartbreaking last-ball defeat against PBKS, Sanju also entered an elite list of cricketers with three or more IPL hundreds. In fact, his tally of three IPL hundreds is only second to RCB captain Virat Kohli’s five among Indian players.

Most 100s in IPL

Most Runs for a No.3 batter in IPL 2021

A breakdown analysis of Sanju Samson’s batting in each stage of a T20 innings

Powerplay

While his strike rate in the Powerplay has dropped, especially since he became captain, it is also important to note that he scored 99 runs this season- which is the joint second-highest for a season since his IPL debut. That says more about the batter coming in and trying to settle down rather than slogging from ball one, much like a captain would do. 

Middle Overs

Coming to the middle overs, which was Sanju’s strong suit in the last season, the batter has shown a stark evolution in character. While the strike rate is in 130s again, much lesser compared to the last season, an average of 62 means he safeguards his wicket more than investing in power hitting. However, has it dented his intent? Apart from the average in middle overs being the highest in any season so far, his balls taken per boundary of 6.7 is second best.

Death Overs

Coming to the intent part of the argument, a part which is undeniably significant in T20 cricket, Sanju Samson has been exceptional in power-hitting during death overs this season. Not only has he scored 100 runs for the first time, showing how important his build-up in the previous stages is, he has also maintained a strike rate of 185.