Sanju Samson is such a “nice guy” that everyone wants him to succeed, according to legendary Sunil Gavaskar, and his crucial knock against the West Indies must have relieved everyone’s tension.
In a high-stakes T20 World Cup match against the West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday night, Samson ended his string of poor scores with a game-winning 97-run innings at the big stage.
“This knock of 97 not out takes the weight off not just Sanju Samson’s shoulders, but off everyone who knows what a fine player he has been. He has had ups and downs, and we have felt them too because he is such a nice guy. Everybody wants him to do well,” PTI quoted Gavaskar as saying on a Star Sports show.
In the run-up to the World Cup, Samson experienced a string of poor performances that did not match his actual abilities.
“All Indian cricket fans will be happy that this sincere cricketer has got the success he deserves.”
India will now play England on Thursday in the semi-finals in Mumbai.
A century would have been the cherry on top for Samson, according to Gavaskar.
“To be the Man of the Match in a must-win game is a dream come true. You could see the emotions on Sanju’s face after he hit the winning runs. He was three runs short of a hundred and it would have been fantastic had he reached the three-figure mark.
“But maybe another hundred is on the way in some other match. It was not an easy target to chase down, but this set of players didn’t give up and they pulled off the unbelievable.”
Gavaskar explained that the secret to India’s successful 196-run chase against a strong team was to avoid playing too many dot balls.
“Having a set batter at one end is very beneficial. The other batter can look to knock singles and give more strike to the set batter. That way, there are not too many dot balls. In T20 cricket, the idea is to have as few dot balls as possible,” he said.
“I think the Indian team has realized that. If you look at the teams with the lowest percentage of dot balls, India are pretty high up there. I am not saying they are the best, but they are up there. That is where half the battle is won.
“Out of 120 deliveries, if you score runs off 80 to 85 balls, you give yourself a real chance to chase scores like 190 to 200 and India did exactly that against the West Indies.”
