Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised Sanju Samson for his superb century after CSK bested Mumbai Indians by a gargantuan margin of 103 runs at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, in the ongoing IPL 2026 on Thursday. Samson scored a magnum opus knock of 101 runs off just 54 balls to help his team post a par score of 207 runs on the board.

The flamboyant batter scored 10 fours and six maximums in his knock as he scored his runs at a strike rate of 187.04. Ashwin slammed critics who suggested that Sanju Samson slowed down for his century against MI.

The former CSK all-rounder said Samson was spot on in reading the pitch and thus played a key role in his team’s comprehensive win.

“CSK have become the king of defence. It is not easy to defend 208 on Wankhede, and they did it. The way they did it, they are back in this IPL now. Many people were discussing whether Sanju played slowly on this wicket, or did not show much intent, but the way he read the wicket was the difference,” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“I am not saying that 208 was a big score on this wicket, I don’t think so, I won’t accept it. I do not believe that this score was a lot on this pitch. But Sanju read the pitch in such a way that this might not be a 240 pitch. There was definitely help for the slower ball on this wicket. Everyone was saying he slowed down a bit for the century, but no, scoring a century in 54 balls is not slow,” he added.

As CSK were losing wickets at regular intervals, Ashwin said Samson could not take extra risks and decided to bat deep.

“It seemed that Sanju could have taken more risks, but no, because he knew that there were no batters behind him. When Brevis, Dube, and Kartik were there, they had the responsibility of attacking the spinners. Sanju was still putting away the bad balls,” Ashwin added.

Chennai Super Kings will next take on Gujarat Titans at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Sunday.