CHENNAI: Sanju Samson knew the cards he had been dealt with: Perform or perish. It has been the case for a little over 12 months. And every time when the pressure of delivering was at the highest, somehow, Samson managed to bring out the best of him.
Against West Indies, England and New Zealand in the T20 World Cup. And then against Afghanistan recently before the Asian Games. Now, after a string of low scores, the 31-year-old, once again, was under the pump with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi warming the bench.
On Friday, as he has done in the past, the 31-year-old came out of the corner all guns blazing. He smashed 82 off 41 balls against West Indies in Ranchi, a knock that featured nine fours and four sixes, helping India finish with 249/5 in 20 overs.
Momentarily, in the third over, however, Samson would have felt it was all going downhill for him. With six runs of four balls, Samson hit Akeal Hosein straight to Nicholas Pooran at cover. It seemed like he was on his way to a seventh single digit score in 12 innings. But, much to his turn of fortunes, Pooran dropped the catch. And that was just the slice of luck Samson needed.
Two balls later, he sent Hosein into the stands, and then launched Roston Chase over extra cover before kicking on in the fifth over. Two sixes and as many fours came off Hosein before Samson hit consecutive boundaries off Romario Shepherd to reach his fifty in just 21 balls. The weight was off his shoulders. At least, from the outside, that was what it looked like. And as it has been repeated since he broke into the scene, when Samson gets going, there is little anyone could do. Even more so on a belter of a pitch with dew coming into play.
From there, even as wickets fell in regular intervals, Samson kept picking up boundaries in almost every over before he eventually fell in the 15th over for 82 from 41 balls. The scoreboard, at the time, read 162/4 and Samson had done his part. And so did local lad Ishan Kishan (43). From there, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma took over. They added 83 runs in 5.2 overs before Iyer got out for 40 from 18 balls. Varma, meanwhile, remained unbeaten on 44 from 18 balls as India finished with 249/5.
Mayank and dew factor
While Samson played the headline act, and with perfection, there was another storyline unfolding in the evening. With heavy dew in play, no total seemed safe and India needed early wickets. Enter Mayank Yadav. The pace sensation rocked the Windies top-order removing Kamil Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer on consecutive deliveries. He was hitting the high 140KPHs with ease and looked in rhythm, giving India an early advantage.
The chase, however, was far from over. Skipper Shai Hope came to the fore once again, first with Rovman Powell (24 off 13 balls) and then with Sherfane Rutherford (84 from 37 balls). From 5/2 in 0.4 overs, Windies went to 178/4 in 14.1 overs. It did not matter who the bowler was, with dew to assist, West Indies went for their big shots. And India's sloppy fielding helped. In the end, West Indies prevailed to level the series 1-1.
Brief scores: India 249/5 in 20 ovs (Samson 82, Iyer 40, Tilak 44 n.o, Ishan 43) lost to West Indies in 252/4 in 18.3 ovs (Hope 102 n.o, Rutherford 84; Mayank 3/36).
