IPL 2020: Sanju Samson explains the reason behind his 'biceps' celebration

Sanju Samson came up with an interesting celebrating after reaching his fifty against Mumbai Indians during the high-scoring encounter on Sunday. The right-handed batsman finally regained his form and delivered with the bat when his team needed it the most as he scored an unbeaten fifty to help the Royals chase down a mammoth target of 196.

Soon after crossing the fifty-run mark, Samson celebrated the milestone by pointing to his biceps and flexing his muscles. He scored 54* off 31 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes. The India star also shared an unbeaten stand of 152 runs with Ben Stokes who remained not out on 107* off 60 balls as Royals kept their playoff hopes on track.

Following the game, Samson revealed the reason behind his ‘bicep’ celebration. The Royals’ batting mainstay explained that the celebration was a biblical reference, and reminder to himself about his strength. Samson, who began the tournament with two half-centuries, also insisted that he kept believing in himself despite the recent slump in form.

“Reminding myself what my name is, I think Samson is the strongest man in the world, I keep remembering that. I am very strong and I can hit more sixes,” said Sanju Samson.

“I kept on believing in myself. When you play 14 games, you’ll have to go through ups and downs. I worked a bit on my game plan. In bigger grounds, on different wickets, you need to take more time, play more cricketing shots, that was the difference I did today. It was amazing batting with Stokes. We have spent a good time out in the middle in the last three games, this was the best time with him, really enjoyed it,” he added.

Sanju Samson opens up on his knock

The Kerala star further opened up about his knock, saying that he was not trying hard to hit big sixes. He also stated that he was not looking at the required run-rate or the runs his team needed and was just playing as per the merit of the ball to keep things simple.

“To be honest, I was not looking at how many runs do we want or what the run-rate was. I was just reacting to the ball, my game plan is very simple, I just watch the ball and hit it if it is there. If not, I take singles and doubles. I just kept it simple and finished it off, have seen some funny games in the past in IPL where matches have gone here and there,” he said.

With the win, Royals now have five wins from 12 games and remain in hunt for the next round of the tournament. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, are still at the top of the points table with seven wins from 11 games.