Sanju Samson returned to the Indian side for the Super 8 match against Zimbabwe. India were put into bat first and this was a must win game for the side. Sanju Samson replaced Rinku Singh and was slotted to open the batting for India along with Abhishek Sharma. This change was due as India had one of the lowest average opening partnerships in this tournament. So, India pushed Samson to open and Kishan at three which meant Tilak went to number five. This was the second game of the WT20 for Samson and he left a mark in his comeback. Sanju Samson played an excellent cameo and departed for 24. After he got out, an incident occurred in the dugout which has gone viral on social media.
Sanju Samson was seen getting praises and applause from Indian head coach and batting coach which suggests that Team management wanted him to execute a plan and he had done his job. Watch the video here. Sanju Samson smashed a six off the backfoot over mid-off against Richard Ngarava to get off the mark in just the second ball of his innings. India got off to a brilliant start scoring 13 runs of the first over and in the second over, Sanju Samson smashed another six against Muzarabani and India were on the attack. Samson looked in extremely good touch as smashed two sixes and a four in his knock of 24 runs off 15 balls. He was dismissed by Muzarabani when he was caught at deep square leg.
A few overs after Samson’s dismissal it was shown that the team management were happy with his performance and everyone were seen applauding him. Dinesh Karthik also mentioned in commentary that Sanju Samson had done his role of providing team India with a good start.
This is a crucial must win match for India and they need to win this match and also the next game against West Indies to make it to the semi-final. India are in a very strong position and scored 80 runs in the powerplay in this match which is their highest so far in this WT20.
