India batter Sanju Samson played a whirlwind knock in the third ODI against the West Indies at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad on Tuesday, August 1. After a poor show in the last game, he finally lived up to the expectations. Coming in to bat at No.4, Samson took on the opposition with two sixes within his first four balls. He smashed 51 off 41 balls at a strike rate of 124.39, including two boundaries and four sixes as well.
Speaking at the mid-innings break, Sanju Samson stated: “It feels really great to spend some time in the middle, score some runs and contribute for your country. I had different plans for different players, I wanted to use my feet and dominate the lengths of the bowlers.”
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While speaking about the challenges of not having a fixed batting slot in the team, the Kerala-born cricketer said: “Being an Indian cricketer is a challenging thing. I have played domestic cricket for the last 8-9 years and for India here and there, so it gives you a bit of understanding of playing in different positions. It is the number of overs you get and it is not about batting position so you gotta prepare accordingly.”
However, Sanju Samson batted at No.3 in the second ODI in Barbados. He was demoted to No.4 in the third match where he made the opportunity count with a half-century. And, after a batting debacle in the second game, Team India bounced back in the series decider. Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill added 143 runs for the first wicket and later Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya scored quickfire half-centuries also.
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“It was not easy to get that score, credit goes to the middle-order batters for hanging in and getting that score. With our bowling order, I’m confident,” Sanju Samson concluded.
