Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Take a bow, Sanju Samson. He played only one match in the league stage. Then he was given a chance in the Super 8, and he delivered. For long, the super-talented Samson’s story has been one where he often failed to consistently live up to the high expectations. But not on Sunday. With India chasing a challenging 196-run target against two-time champions West Indies, Samson timed his innings to perfection. He never let the scoreboard pressure mount, guiding the team to victory in 19.2 overs.
He stayed unbeaten on 97 – the second-highest individual score ever by an Indian in T20 World Cups* (after Suresh Raina‘s 101 vs South Africa, 2010) – as India entered the last-four stage in style.
“It means the whole world actually to me. I think right from the day I started playing, started dreaming to play for the country, this is the day I was waiting for. And I’m very grateful, very thankful. I’ve always had a very special journey with lots of ups and downs, but I kept on doubting myself, kept on thinking: what if, what if… can I make it? But I kept on believing, and thanks to the Lord Almighty for actually blessing me today. So I’m very happy,” he said.
“Yeah, I think that’s why I have been playing this format for a very long time. Playing IPL for around 10 to 12 years and being with the Indian team for the last 10 years… I have not always been playing, but I was looking from the dugout, learning from greats like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. It’s very important to observe, learn, and see what they were doing.”
Samson also mentioned how much he learned from watching matches from the dugout.
“I think that really helped me. With my experience, I have only played maybe 50-60 games, but I’ve seen around 100 games. I’ve watched how the greatest players finish games and how they change their approach according to the situation. In the last game we were batting first, so it was all about setting a very high score,” he said.
“So that’s why I wanted to go big right from ball one. But this game was completely different. As soon as I tried to go a bit harder, we were losing wickets. So I wanted to build a partnership, focus on my process. I never felt that I would do something special like this – I was just focusing on my role, taking it one ball at a time, and I’m very grateful.”
The batter from Kerala went on to say that it was “one of the greatest days of his life.”
“Yeah, definitely they do bring a lot of energy and support. But on the other hand, there’s always a question – what if not? That keeps playing in your mind. But whenever that thought came, I brought myself into the present moment, looked at the ball, and trusted myself to react based on its merit. That worked pretty well today,” he said