After two back-to-back match-winning knocks against West Indies and England, India opener Sanju Samson wants to make an impact one more time against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup final at Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Samson, 31, who was not part of the playing XI when India started their T20 World Cup campaign against USA at the Wankhede Stadium on February 7, made his mark in the Super Eights game against WI in Kolkata on March 1, scoring an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls during India’s five-wicket win. On Thursday, his 42-ball 89 helped the hosts beat England by seven runs in the semi-final at Wankhede.
“It feels great or really relieved as I’ve been trying for a few years to do something like this for my country. So, just waiting with a lot of patience, a lot of inner work, a lot of training, a lot of practice. I’m very grateful, but we have one more step to go. If we do that, then all the work, everything would be worth it. So, one more innings should be really good,” Samson said during the post-match press conference on Thursday.
On the prospect of playing his maiden T20 World Cup final, Samson said: “It’s really one of the best moments in my life, so I’m very grateful for that.”
Samson, 31, has scored 1310 runs in 61 T20Is with three centuries and five half-centuries, but was not known as a consistent performer. He only got an opportunity when attacking opener Abhishek Sharma (89 runs in seven games) failed in this tournament.
Samson, who has scored 232 runs in four matches so far, revealed how he overcame his struggles. “I had to come back to my basics. When hard times were coming, my close people, the people who I love, were with me. I closed all my windows, shut down my phone, I was not on social media, I’m still not on social media, so less noise, less people interacting with me. That really helped me focus on the right direction and I’m very happy with how I’m going,” said Samson.
89
No. of runs scored by Samson on Thursday — joint-highest score by an Indian in T20 World Cup knockouts alongside Virat Kohli (89* vs WI in 2016)
