Kolkata: Sanju Samson hit a career-defining 97 not out to propel India to a five-wicket win against West Indies in the last Super Eights clash here on Sunday that paved their way to the T20 World Cup semi-finals. Not picked for two weeks in the tournament before being recalled against Zimbabwe, Samson missed out on what would have been a sensational hundred. But considering what was at stake here, he would cherish this innings any day.
It came against a resilient side who were dropping nothing, till Jason Holder fumbled Hardik Pandya’s catch at extra cover. Standing on a pressure point with India needing 35 runs from 24 balls, West Indies broke and India ran away with the match. Pandya got out but Shivam Dube came in and released the pressure with two boundaries off Shamar Joseph. Needing seven off six, Samson scored a towering six first-ball off Romario Shepherd before clearing mid-on for a four and immediately dropping to his knees to look skywards.
This was a complicated game where India dropped three catches and West Indies dropped only one. Between Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya and—crucially—Varun Chakravarthy, India conceded 123 runs. West Indies had hit 10 sixes, India only six sixes.
Before this, West Indies had never won a T20I against India whenever they batted first. They got 195, 37 more than the highest successful chase at Eden Gardens, back in 2022. Only last Sunday, India imploded miserably in their chase of South Africa’s 187 but they still backed themselves to chase because Eden Gardens, in Suryakumar Yadav’s words, “has been a chasing ground”.
The reality was far grimmer. Half-century in 26 balls, with six fours and three sixes, Samson gently raised his bat to indicate he was still not done. A 58-run partnership with Surya happened, till the India captain sliced Shamar Joseph to Sherfane Rutherford at deep point. All this time, India were keeping up with the asking rate and more. West Indies had reached 100 in 11.1 overs, India reached theirs in 10.3 overs.
For 10 balls, India couldn’t hit a boundary but Samson broke the shackles by hanging back and drilling Joseph down the ground for four. Three more fours followed, all off Tilak Varma’s bat, as India milked 17 runs from that over to reinstate themselves firmly in the chase. Roston Chase returned after giving away only three runs in his first over but Samson opened the face of his bat to get a boundary through point with Varma ending the over with a massive six over long-on.
West Indies did score 70 in the last five overs, but after the first innings, Rovman Powell—who scored a 19-ball 34* — still felt they were around 10-15 runs short. He didn’t say that without reason. On 175/4 after 18 overs, anything around 205 looked completely gettable. Arshdeep Singh however bowled a superb over where despite conceding a wide—he bowled three of those—he still gave away six runs.
Jasprit Bumrah came in to bowl the next over and was straightaway hit for a six by Holder, but the next five were jammed into him. Holder still squeezed out a four but by keeping West Indies under the psychological mark of 200, Bumrah had done his bit.
Overall, it wasn’t a job well done though. Arshdeep and Hardik bowled the first three overs, and Axar Patel the fourth before the ball was finally thrown to Bumrah—India did everything to keep West Indies guessing in the Powerplay. But Varun Chakravarthy did a pickup-and-throw towards Shai Hope’s end without even seeing that Roston Chase was halfway down the pitch. Two overs later, Abhishek Sharma dropped a sitter despite getting all the time to cover a speared edge by Chase at extra cover.
Six overs down, West Indies were on 45, more importantly without a wicket. Varun finally introduced some calm to the chaos, bowling Shai Hope with a delivery that turned into him after the previous delivery turned away, both coming off a similar release action. Psychologically though, India were wavering.
Hardik conceded three wides after Shimron Hetmyer swatted his length ball over long-on for a flat six. On 82/1 at the halfway mark, West Indies were primed for an assault. Hetmyer’s eyes lit up when he saw Chakravarthy bowl flat, prompting him to go deep into his crease and pull it over deep midwicket for six. Bumrah took two wickets in the next over, and Varun and Hardik gave away just 12 runs in the 14th and 15th overs. Things went downhill from there. It started with Arshdeep conceding 24 runs in the 16th over, Rovman Powell pulling and flicking him for two tall sixes before cutting him over backward point for four.
The chase couldn’t have got off to a more nervous start with Abhishek Sharma swiping across his line to Akeal Hosein and Hetmyer running in from deep square leg to complete a brilliant catch. And when Kishan was caught—again by Hetmyer—on the boundary, Eden was stunned into silence. It slowly found its voice, only to be hushed again by Hetmyer who back-pedalled at mid-off and threw himself in the air to pluck Tilak Varma’s catch.
However, Samson vindicated the faith in him, to some effect.
