Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar credited attacking opener Sanju Samson’s brilliant performance in the knockouts for India’s recent T20 World Cup triumph.
Vengsarkar hailed Samson especially for playing orthodox knocks and said that he advises his academy players to play in similar fashion.
Apart from his match-winning 46-ball 89 in the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand at Ahmedabad, Samson’s 89 versus England in the semi-final at Mumbai and unbeaten 97 against West Indies in a must-win Super Eights game in Kolkata played a crucial role in India defending their T20 World Cup title.
Dilip Vengsarkar at a book release function in Bandra on Friday. Pic/Atul Kamble
“I tell the players at my academy how Sanju Samson played orthodox shots. He doesn’t play flamboyantly, like a reverse sweep or those kinds of shots played in this [T20] format. He scored runs off orthodox shots. When you play those flamboyant shots, the margin for error is very limited. So, all should learn from Samson to be as consistent. He [Samson] has always been a good player, there’s no question about it,” Vengsarkar told mid-day on the sidelines of a function to launch author Devendra Prabhudesai’s book, Running Between the Wickets, at MIG Cricket Club in Bandra on Friday.
Vengsarkar, a veteran of 116 Tests, revealed that he was expecting a close final against the Kiwis, but admitted it was special to see the way India dominated the proceedings. “The way we won [the T20 World Cup final], that’s important, because it was an extremely emphatic win. They [NZ] are a strong team and we had expected a close finish, but India completely dominated right from the word go.
“India is now No. 1 in the world, one of the best teams in world cricket, and it’s an honour. Everybody played well, Surya [skipper Yadav] and all his boys did very well,” added Vengsarkar.
