Sanju Samson produced one of India’s greatest ever batting performances at a T20 World Cup to power his side to a clinical five-wicket victory over West Indies and keep their hopes of defending their title alive.
Playing in only his third match of the tournament, Samson belted an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls as the home side finished on 199 for five in 19.2 overs in response to the West Indies’ competitive total of 195 for four in 20 overs.
The win sent them through to the semifinal stage, where they will face Group 2 winners England on Thursday in Mumbai.
Billed as a showdown between David and Goliath, the contest did not disappoint the over 50, 000 fans who packed into Eden Gardens.
The West Indies’ surprise decision to drop out-of-form opener Brandon King and replace him with Akeal Hosein, saw all-rounder Roston Chase opening the batting for the first time in his international career.
While Chase survived a run out chance when he was just one, and a dropped opportunity on 14, he looked fluent during a 68-run opening partnership with captain Shai Hope.
Hope on the other hand, struggled throughout his innings until he was bowled by a quicker delivery from spinner Varun Chakravarthy after scoring 32 off 33 balls.
Shimron Hetmyer hit two sixes and a four in racing to 27 off just 12 balls, before he was undone by a delivery from Jasprit Bumrah that grazed the inside of his bat on the way through to the wicketkeeper, to leave the Windies 102 for two in the 12th over.
Bumrah struck again two balls later, outfoxing Chase with a slower delivery that he could only chip to cover where captain Suryakumar Yadav took a simple catch to dismiss him for 40 off 25 balls, laced with five fours and one six.
When Sherfane Rutherford was caught behind off the bowling of Hardik Pandya for 14, the West Indies were in a spot of bother at 119 for four in the 15ht over.
However, Rovman Powell and Jason Holder shared an unbroken partnership of 76 runs that ensured the regional side finished with a flourish.
They would have been disappointed not to have gotten over the 200-run mark, but the last two overs bowled by Arshdeep Singh and Bumrah only yielded 20 runs.
Holder ended on 37 not out from 22 balls with three sixes and two fours, while Powell was unbeaten on 34 off 19 balls, inclusive of three fours and two sixes.
Unlike the West Indies, India got off to a flying if not prosperous start in their run chase.
Abhishek Sharma and Samson clobbered 29 runs off the first three overs, before the former was caught by Hetmyer running back from deep backward square leg off the bowling of Hosein for 10.
Ishan Kishan hit two fours in his brief knock of 10, but pulled a delivery from Holder straight into the hands of Hetmyer on the deep square leg boundary, to leave the home side 41 for two in the fifth over.
Samson, however, continued to attack, hitting Gudakesh Motie for two fours in the eighth over and followed up by smashing Romario Shepherd for a six and four in the next over to move to 48.
He then reached his first half century of the tournament off 26 balls by slapping Motie for four through point.
Together with his captain, they added 58 runs in six overs to keep India in the ascendancy at 99 for two in the 11th over.
And when Shamar Joseph removed Yadav for 18, Samson found a useful partner in Tilak Varma, with the two putting on 42 runs in four overs.
Holder broke the partnership by getting rid of Varma for 27 off 15 balls, and when Joseph returned to dismiss Pandya, India required 17 runs from 10 balls.
Shivam Dube hit Joseph for two boundaries to bring the equation down to seven runs off the final over, before Samson fittingly ended the match by clobbering Romario Shepherd for a six and four off the first two balls, to spark wild celebrations. (CMC)
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