Sanju Samson‘s scintillating 89 helped India to their fourth T20 World Cup Final, as they beat England in a pulsating semi-final by seven runs.
This was a semi-final that promised so much and delivered everything in terms of big hitting, top-class fielding, and, more importantly, a thrilling finish.
England won the toss and elected to bowl first.
When the hosts lost Abhishek Sharma in the second over of the match, there was a glimmer of hope that they could restrict the hosts to a chaseable score.
But Samson and Ishan Kishan, who scored an impressive 39 off 18, along with Shivam Dube’s 43 off 25, and cameos of 27 and 21 from Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma, meant that they were able to get to a match-winning score of 253-7.
You could say that England didn’t help themselves in the field, especially when Samson was dropped by Harry Brook on 15.
But full credit to the Wicketkeeper batter, who took full advantage of a shoddy display of fielding from Harry Brook’s side.
The way he was striking the ball made it impossible for England’s bowlers to keep him at bay.
It just goes to show that if you aren’t switched on in the field, and you give quality players gifts like that, they will punish you.
That is exactly what Samson did.
England made a good fist of the chase, thanks to a wonderful 105 of 45 from Jacob Bethell.
Tom Banton, Will Jacks, Sam Curran, and Jofra Archer also made useful contributions of 17, 35, 18, and 19, to give England hope in the final over.
But despite Dube conceding 22 runs of the final over, Suryakumar Yadav’s men managed to hold their nerve in the end.
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The Indian Captain was delighted with his team’s performance, especially in the field, which hadn’t always been up to scratch in this tournament.
‘Unbelievable feeling. Playing in India, leading an unbelievable side. Samson knew what he knew right when he went in. Team required it from him, it was due. I told Harry how much more do we need to score against them. They were always in the chase, but the way the bowlers pulled the game away was unbelievable. You know how capable Bumrah is. We need to give credit to T Dilip, our fielding coach. Boys are responding well. Guys have been going the extra yard, that’s showing up. Till No. 3 all is settled, as soon as we saw Rashid, Dube was the perfect match up. Was very nervous, heart rate would’ve been 160-175. The moment we entered, it was already 80% full, hope we gave the crowd a good game. Going for the title in India there will be pressure, but the players and support staff will be excited.’
Suryakumar Yadav: ESPN Cricinfo
A dejected Brook pointed out that fielding mistakes cost England the game.
We thought there might’ve been hold, spin in the first inns, slid onto the bat nicely and India batted well. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I made a big mistake dropping Samson. We weren’t good enough in the field. We misexecuted, and can’t afford to do that against India. Bethell was absolutely unbelievable, he’ll earn some serious money. To see him taking it from ball one, showed the world what he can do. We had a good tournament, we should be extremely proud of how we played. We stuck to it the whole game, unfortunately we were on the wrong side.
Harry Brook: ESPN Cricinfo
Samson was nominated Player Of The Match for his outstanding knock in a big semi-final
Feels great, I knew I got some form going from the last game. I thought I need to make the most out of my form, gave myself extra time. We know no score is stoppable, wanted as much as possible. England came close, played really well. Good semi-final. You need to assess conditions, we’ve played a lot of cricket here, know chasing is easier. But the way myself and Ishan was batted, we knew 250 should be possible. Very happy. All credit goes to Bumrah, once in a generation. Think this award should go to him. Unbelievable feeling to play here, we wanted to put in a positive result. Hundred doesn’t matter, it’s not a Test or an ODI game where you can go up and down. Happy to get whatever I’m getting and in a winning effort.
Sanju Samson: ESPN Cricinfo
So India will now face New Zealand in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Who will take home the glory?
Find out on World In Sport
