WATCH | Samson shuts out noise to deliver his best knock in Indian jersey with clutch masterclass

India found themselevs with a tall hill to climb at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday after the West Indies set them a daunting target of 196 in a virtual T20 World Cup quarterfinal. The situation turned worse when the top-ranked T20I batter in the world Abhishek Sharma departed in the third over after an 11-ball struggle for 10 runs, nine deliveries before Ishan Kishan made his way for the same score to leave India reeling. However, there was one man in the middle potentially playing for his India career, who decided to make the opportunity count.

Sanju Samson fortuitously found himself back opening the innings for India despite being dropped pre-tournament after Rinku Singh had to leave the squad due to personal reasons. However, the Keralite continued to undewrhelm with a paltry 24 against Zimbabwe, and had all the pressure on his shoulders in the Kolkata humidity. Nevertheless, Samson did not let it weight him down as he came flying out of the gates, smacking Akeal Hosein on his third ball of the innings for four before slamming two sixes in the next three deliveries. The fall of two wickets brought about a temporary halt in the power show but Samson returned to track with a boundary each in the two overs after the end of the powerplay, eventually bringing up a 28-ball boundary in the 10th over with a four. Just when India seemed to be taking the ascendancy, skipper Suryakumar Yadav fell for 18 but Samson remained unfettered. Buoyed by a scintillaitng rapid 27-run cameo by Tilak Varma, Samson kept finding the boundary at regular intervals to keep the required rate under check. The equation eventually read seven off the last over, but Samson ensured an early finish with a six and a four to end unbeaten on 97 off 50 deliveries, and celebrated a kncok for the ages by collapsing to his knees and looking up at the heavens.

Twitter was astounded, to say the least.