Samson stands tall: From fringe pick to saviour, Samson scripts defining night at Eden Gardens

It is impossible that Sanju Samson did not feel the pressure. He was not a part of India’s core plans in this T20 World Cup less than a fortnight ago. Had it not been for finger spinners, especially off-spinners, getting under the skin of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, Samson may not have found a place in the eleven. Now, it’s safe to say, if not for Samson, India would not be alive in the tournament when the actual knockouts came around.

On a muggy evening at the Eden Gardens, India needed 196 to make it to Mumbai to face England, who awaited them in the first semifinal. Abhishek owed the team runs: he had dropped two catches, one a skier at cover and another a simple offering at midwicket. But if those lapses were brought on by nerves, it did not get better with the bat. Abhishek swung for the fences without belief in his stroke, swivelling more in hope than conviction, and holed out. Ishan pulled and pulled well, but found the fielder at square leg to leave India at 41 for 2.

Samson, all this time, had batted without raising the pulse of the crowd. He took on the left-arm spin of Akeal Hossain early, carving one through point, having exposed his stumps and giving the bowler an opportunity to attack. When the bowler corrected his line, the sweep came out, Samson sending the ball into the stands over the leg side. Samson’s strength lay in not trying to manufacture the big shots while always being alive to the possibilities when the bowler erred. The angled bat meant the offside gaps were pierced, and when the ball was short, Samson was quickly onto the back foot and even had time to roll the wrists and keep the ball down when it sat up on the pitch.


Suryakumar Yadav took a beat to get his eye in but launched a touch early and was the third man dismissed, carving into the deep. Tilak Varma came out and took on the bowling, but he too did not last. All through this, Samson gave the impression he was batting in a One-Day International rather than a 20-over contest. At no stage did he look hurried, yet he never allowed the required run rate to escalate enough to mount scoreboard pressure. Samson knew that India had enough batsmen to come, with the all-rounders bolstering the middle order.

But the West Indies were not about to give up. As they chipped away, the chase became taut. A big hit got the crowd to its feet, and a few dot balls strung together tested belief. Even when Tilak fell, there was no need to panic. Samson had realised by now that he stood between West Indies and victory. There was no need to try to be a hero, no call to let excitement colour his batting.

Shivam Dube, coming in with nerves still jangling, released the pressure with two timely boundaries. When the final over began, India needed seven, and Samson was on strike. Romario Shepherd dropped the ball short, and Samson’s eyes lit up. With control and poise, he played a pull shot for the ages, sending the ball into the stands. Off the next, he drove over mid-on, dropped to his knees, and looked up to the heavens in gratitude.

Samson’s unbeaten 97 had given India victory by five wickets, with four balls to spare. A century would have been fitting, but for the longest time now, Samson has been Indian cricket’s nearly man. No more. If he does nothing significant on a cricket field from here on, he has still written himself into the history books.

But it was not as though there was anything inevitable about India’s win. Surya’s decision to bowl first did not meet universal approval. And when West Indies batsmen made the most of India’s mistakes in the field, it appeared as though they would run away with the game. The one positive for India was that they kept pulling things back, most brilliantly when Jasprit Bumrah came back to bowl the 12th over. Shimron Hetmyer played an unbalanced heave to nick to the keeper — adjudicated by a spike that the third umpire saw — and Roston Chase popped a leading edge to be safely caught.

West Indies, who had been kept down to only 125 for 4 at the end of the 15th over, had enough firepower to get to 195. In a clutch game, this was a serious total, but, as India showed, it was not insurmountable.