Sanju Samson's match-winning 97 in the T20 World Cup match against West Indies showcased his resilience and dedication, silencing negativity and trusting his abilities to deliver a crucial victory for India.
Key Points
- Sanju Samson slammed an unbeaten 97 from 50 balls to power India to a five-wicket win against West Indies.
- Samson surpassed the great Virat Kohli (82) to register the highest score by an Indian batter in a run chase in T20 World Cups.
- Samson ended his barren run in T20 internationals, hitting his first half-century in 13 innings.
India opener Sanju Samson shut down his phone and social media accounts to ensure that he did not lose self-belief during a lean patch that ended with a match-winning knock in the do-or-die T20 World Cup game against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Sunday.
Samson smashed a 50-ball 97, including 12 fours and four sixes, to steer the side home in a steep chase of 196 in the must-win Super 8s match.
The 31-year-old was brought back to the opening slot following India's heavy loss to South Africa in the Super 8s match, to break the left-handed monotony of the defending champions' struggling top-order.
"Shot selection was something I kept working on. I did not want to change too much because I knew I had performed with the same setup, so I kept believing in myself, switched off my phone, switched off social media and listened to my own self," Samson said on Star Sports after India's five-wicket win here on Sunday.
"I am very happy it happened in a very special game."
Samson was, in fact, a lone warrior last night with some support from skipper Suryakumar Yadav (18) and Tilak Varma (27).
'I worked on my base, how I set myself up'
"It was a bit of a difficult chase. Looking at our batting power, I felt that chasing 190-odd at Eden Gardens, when dew comes in, gets a bit easier, but losing wickets at regular intervals made it challenging," the wicket-keeper-batter acknowledged.
"To be honest, that's where my experience and my role played a big part. I got a good start, but when the wickets kept falling, I felt I needed to finish the game and take it till the last moment.
"Normally you feel like doing it, but it doesn't happen all the time, so I am very grateful it happened in this game...when you are chasing a score like this in a pressure game, you take different options and play more boundaries rather than looking at risk-taking options," he added.
Speaking on his run of underwhelming scores prior to last night, including the home series against New Zealand, Samson elaborated on the changes he made to his technique.
"Our human nature is that we often start from a negative thought like, 'Can I do it? I don't think I can.' When I have that thought, I try to alter it with a very positive one. When I had a series like New Zealand where I wanted to perform and be part of the World Cup team, things did not work out well, but luckily I got a 10-day gap," he said.
Sanju Samson Living The Dream
"I did not play any games and was not in the side. I kept thinking, 'Sanju, what else? Why didn't it work? What else should I do?' So I did some soul-searching. I worked on my base, how I set myself up, and came back to it.
"A lot of people had suggestions and I saw a lot of valid points, but at the same time I felt, 'Sanju, you have scored three international hundreds with the same setup'," he added.
Asked what the Kolkata knock meant for him, Samson said he feels lucky to live a dream that he has nurtured since childhood.
"More than a hundred cricketers in India dream about a day like this. I dared to dream. A young guy from Trivandrum, Kerala, dreaming about playing for the country and winning a game in such a crucial match. I dared to dream and it happened," he said.
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