New Delhi, March 2 Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar said all Indian cricket fans would take joy in Sanju Samson's match-winning 97 not out taking the team to a crucial five-wicket win over the West Indies, adding that the ‘sincere’ wicketkeeper-batter has finally received the recognition for his immense talent.
Samson's superb knock laced with 12 fours and four sixes off 50 balls guided India to a five-wicket victory in their winner-takes-it-all Super Eights clash at Eden Gardens on Sunday and booked their ticket to the T20 World Cup semi-final against England, to be played in Mumbai on Thursday.
“This knock of 97 not out takes the weight off not just Sanju Samson’s shoulders but also 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.
“All Indian cricket fans will be happy that this sincere cricketer has got the success he deserves. 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," said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
At the same time, Gavaskar said a hundred for Samson is not that far away. “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 also highlighted India's shrewd strike rotation in the chase as a decisive factor, adding the team's ability to minimise dot balls in the face of hunting down a challenging total was very precious.
“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. I think the Indian team has realised 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.”
Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar talked about how Samson finally got his moment of recognition after waiting for so long. “It was an unbelievable innings by Sanju Samson. It has been a rollercoaster ride for him in the last couple of years. He got those centuries in South Africa after scoring so many runs there, then got demoted to number five.
“We watched him in Australia and he was out of sorts because that was not his natural position. From there, he fought his way back into the Indian side and found a place in the T20 World Cup squad. Then Ishan Kishan replaced him. He was looking for a spot again.
“He got just one game in the group stage against Namibia, then finally got a go against Zimbabwe. He got some runs and then he did this. A special innings of 97 runs. He played very differently from how he has played in the past. It was very measured, controlled and aggressive,” he concluded.
--IANS
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