Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 2 : Following his masterclass 97* against West Indies to seal the semifinal spot in the ICC T20 World Cup, Indian batter Sanju Samson spoke on battling self-doubt and learning from the greats like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Samson played one of the most mature knocks of his career on Sunday at Kolkata's Eden Gardens, single-handedly helping India to chase a challenging total of 196 runs against the West Indies in a must-win virtual quarterfinal clash. This knock comes after a long battle with inconsistency, either struggling to convert his starts into something of substance or not taking off at all. India will now play England in the second semifinal on March 5 in Mumbai.
Speaking after the match in the post-match proceedings, Samson spoke on maintaining his self-belief despite self-doubt.
"It means the whole world, actually, to me. I think right from the day I started playing, started dreaming to play for the country, I think this is the day I was waiting for. And I am very grateful, very thankful. And I have always had a very special journey with lots of ups and downs, but I have kept on doubting myself, kept on thinking, what if, what if, can I make it, can I make it? But I kept on believing and thanks to the Lord Almighty for actually blessing me today," he said.
He also reflected on learning from greats like Rohit and Virat, saying that while he has played 50-60 T20Is, it was his experience of watching hundreds of matches involving greats which also helped him.
"So I am very happy. Yeah, I think that's why I have been playing this format for a very long time. I think playing IPL around 10 to 12 years and playing for the country from last 10 years, I have not been playing, but looking from the dugout, learning from the greats like Virat Kohli, from Rohit Sharma, like all the greats. I think it is very important to observe and learn and see what they were doing. I think that really helped me to, I think with my experience, I have only played maybe 50, 60 games, but I have seen around 100 games and I have seen how the greatest people have finished the games and how do they change their game according to the game," he added.
Samson said that he wanted to build a partnership with wickets falling around him and while scoring his runs, he never had a thought that he would end up doing something this special.
"But I was just focusing on my role and just keeping one ball at a time and very grateful. I think this is one of the greatest days of my life. Yeah, definitely, they (his loyal fans) bring a lot of energy, and they do bring a lot of support. But I think on the other end, there is always a question, what if not? So definitely that keeps on playing in your mind. But when that thought kept on coming, I just brought myself into the present moment and just looked at the ball and trusted myself to react according to the ball in merit. So I think that worked out pretty well today," he concluded.
Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to field first. Roston Chase (40 in 25 balls, with five fours and a six) and skipper Shai Hope (32 in 33 balls, with three fours and a six) put on an opening stand of 68 runs for first wicket, but WI slipped to 119/4 in 14.1 overs, despite a fiery cameo by Shimron Hetmyer (27 in 12 balls, with a four and two sixes). It was the pair of Jason Holder (37* in 22 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Powell (34* in 19 balls, with three fours and two sixes) who put on a fiery stand of 76 runs in 35 balls, taking WI to 195/4 in 20 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah (2/36 in four overs) was India's leading bowler, with Varun Chakaravarthy and Hardik Pandya dropping a spell of 1/40 in four overs each.
In the run-chase, India was reduced to 41/2 within the powerplay. It was a 58-run stand between Samson and Suryakumar Yadav (18) which brought the chase in track. Then Sanju went on to stitch partnerships with Tilak Varma (27 in 15 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Hardik Pandya (17) and Shivam Dube (8*), taking India to a five-wicket win.