Kolkata, March 2 (IANS) India opener Sanju Samson said he switched off his phone and social media to listen to himself and protect his self-belief during a lean patch, which ended with his match-winning 97 in the Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eight clash against the West Indies on Sunday.

Samson hammered 12 fours and four sixes in his 50-ball knock to steer India to a five-wicket victory by chasing 196, thus keeping the defending champions’ campaign alive and set up a semi-final clash against England in Mumbai on Thursday.

“Shot selection was something I kept working on. I did not want to change too much because I knew I had performed with the same setup, so I kept believing in myself, switched off my phone, switched off social media and listened to my own self. I am very happy it happened in a very special game,” said Samson to Star Sports at the conclusion of the game.

He reflected on how doubts crept into his mind when the runs weren’t coming for him in the lead-up to the showpiece event. “Our human nature is that we often start from a negative thought like, ‘Can I do it? I don’t think I can.’ When I have that thought, I try to alter it with a very positive one.

“When I had a series like New Zealand where I wanted to perform and be part of the World Cup team, things did not work out well, but luckily I got a 10-day gap. I did not play any games and was not in the team. I kept thinking, ‘Sanju, what else? Why didn’t it work? What else should I do?’

“So I did some soul-searching. I worked on my base, how I set myself up, and came back to it. A lot of people had suggestions and I saw a lot of valid points, but at the same time I felt, ‘Sanju, you have scored three international hundreds with the same setup.'”

Samson was recalled to open the batting for India with a bid to break the left-handed top-order monotony and carried the team home almost single-handedly in the daunting chase, especially when he lost partners from the other end.

“It was a bit of a difficult chase. Looking at our batting power, I felt that chasing 190-odd at Eden Gardens, when dew comes in, gets a bit easier, but losing wickets at regular intervals made it challenging. To be honest, that’s where my experience and my role played a big part.

“I got a good start, but when the wickets kept falling, I felt I needed to finish the game and take it till the last moment. Normally you feel like doing it, but it doesn’t happen all the time, so I am very grateful it happened in this game.

“When you are batting first, you want to set up a big score and hit a lot of sixes, but when you are chasing a score like this in a pressure game, you take different options and play more boundaries rather than looking at risk-taking options. The ball was coming on nicely, they were bowling with good pace, so I kept timing it and it came well.”

He signed off by saying on what the unbeaten 97 in Kolkata will mean to him. “More than a hundred cricketers in India dream about a day like this. I dared to dream. A young guy from Trivandrum, Kerala, dreaming about playing for the country and winning a game in such a crucial match. I dared to dream and it happened.”

–IANS

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