Sanju comments on his performance after suffering a narrow defeat against South Africa in the first ODI
India’s Struggle
In the early stages of the game, the Indian batting team struggled to get going as they attempted to chase down a target of 250 to win in 40 overs. Before taking another significant stance with Shardul Thakur, Samson initially established a strong connection with Shreyas Iyer in which he (Shreyas) served as the anchor.
Sanju’s comments
In the press conference following the game, Samson discussed the matter in the following way; “It is always nice to spend some time in the middle and we always play to take our team over the line. I missed connecting two shots, next time I will work even harder. But I am satisfied with my contribution.”
He further added saying “Their bowlers were going about things nicely, Tabraiz Shamsi was a little expensive today so we felt we could target them. We knew he would bowl the last over, I knew if I had to get 24 runs in the final over, I could hit four sixes. I was taking the game deep; the plan was this only and the batters responded nicely.”
He concluded by saying “We have some space to improve but we also need to look at the batters we are bowling too. I think David Miller is the best finisher in the world at the moment, bowling against him on this ground was very challenging.”
Sanju the Saviour
The team needed 30 runs off the final over to stay in the game, so the wicketkeeper-batter was facing Tabraiz Shamsi. Samson’s valiant batting effort couldn’t save India from losing by 9 runs. The wicketkeeper-batter was still unbeaten with 86 runs from 63 balls.
What’s Next?
India will now look to hit back with vengeance in the second T20I and level the three-match ODI series against South Africa in Ranchi on 9th October. Catch all the live action on the Star sports network and Disney Plus Hotstar at 1:30 PM.
