Nine years after making his debut, Sanju Samson registered the first century of his T20I career in the third match of the India- Bangladesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday (October 12) as the Men in Blue completed a whitewash with a 3-0 series win.

Wait doubts over his place in the side after failures in the first two games, the 29-year-old made the second quickest ton by an Indian batter in the shortest format of the game. Samson reached the milestone in just 40 balls and only fell short of Rohit Sharma's record (35 balls) narrowly.

After returning home, Samson was honoured by politican Shashi Tharoor, who is the Member of Parliment (MP) from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The Lok Sabha MP gifted the Indian cricketer a 'blue ponnada.'

"Delighted to give a hero’s welcome to “ton-up Sanju” as @IamSanjuSamson returned to Thiruvananthapuram after his stunning century versus Bangladesh. Found a “ponnada” in the appropriate India colours to honour him with!," wrote Tharoor on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Samson made his T20I debut for India in 2014 but has struggled to get a consistent run of games in the playing XI. He flattered to deceive in his limited chances. The knock against Bangladesh was only the third instance (first at home) of him scoring a half-century.

So far, Samson has played 33 T20I matches for India and scored 594 runs at an average of 22.84. He was part of India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad but did not play a single as Rishabh Pant emerged as the first-choice wicket-keeper batter.

Before the knock in Hyderabad, Samson was under massive pressure as he made just 39 runs in two innings in the series. Previously, he was dismissed for a duck in both matches he played during the tour of Sri Lanka.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.