India looked to be in trouble when skipper Suryakumar Yadav fell for 18 in the 11th over of the run chase, but Samson combined well with Tilak Varma (27) and then Hardik Pandya (17) to bring the side within sight of victory.
While India didn’t get past the West Indies’ total until the final over, Samson always had the run chase in control according to current coach Gautam Gambhir.
“He is a world class player, we all know how good a player Sanju is,” Gambhir said after the victory.
“And it was all about backing him. And then when the team needed him the most, obviously today was a day where he probably showed his true potential as well. And hopefully, This is a time for him to kick off and probably two more games to go, hopefully.
“I actually thought that he never accelerated the innings. It was just a very, very normal cricketing shots and I never saw any muscling the ball as well and that is the kind of talent he has.
“When you know that you’re in control of the game and you know that you’re feeling good, he’s hitting the ball really well in the nets and it’s about going in the middle and showcasing that skill that you had and obviously he knew that the wicket was very good, quick outfield as well but again I have always said that he is a world class player, he is a great talent and hopefully he can kick off from now and hopefully we can see a lot more innings like this from Sanju.”
