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After Sanju Samson hit an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls, a record score for India while chasing in men’s T20 World Cups, to put his side in the semi-finals, he said it was “one of the greatest days of my life”.”I never felt that I would do something special like this but I was just focusing on my role,” Samson said after winning the Player-of-the-Match award against West Indies in Kolkata. “Just keeping one ball at a time and very grateful, I think this is one of the greatest days of my life.”In a virtual quarter-final against West Indies at Eden Gardens, Samson broke the record held by Virat Kohli, who had scored 82 not out against Australia in Mohali in the 2016 T20 World Cup and 82 not out again against Pakistan at the MCG in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Samson said he had learned to pace a T20 chase by closely watching the likes of Kohli and Rohit Sharma.This was the first time in IPL and T20Is that Samson had opened and stayed unbeaten in a successful chase.”I’ve only played maybe 50-60 games, but I’ve seen around 100 games,” Samson said. “I’ve seen the greatest people finish games and how they change their game according to the game [situation]. So, [the] last game [in Chennai against Zimbabwe] we were batting first, so it was all about setting a very high score, so that’s how I wanted to go big, right from ball one. But this game was completely different, I think as soon as I wanted to go a bit higher, we were losing wickets, so I wanted to build a partnership and wanted to keep on focusing on my process.”Samson had made his T20I debut way back in 2015 as a 20-year-old and has had to wait for his chances. Overall, he has played only 59 T20Is in 11 years. He started this T20 World Cup as the back-up opener but after oppositions lined up India’s left-hander heavy line-up with offspinners, Samson made a belated entry and played a significant role in India qualifying for the semi-finals.”It means the whole world actually to me,” Samson said. “I think right from the day I started playing, [I] started dreaming to play for the country. I think this is the day I was waiting for and very grateful and very thankful. I’ve always had a very special journey with lots of ups and downs. I’ve kept on doubting myself, kept on thinking what if? Can I make it? But I kept on believing and thanks to the Almighty for actually blessing me today, so I’m very happy.”India captain Suryakumar Yadav credited Samson for guiding them home. “See, I always say good things happen to good people who wait,” Suryakumar said. “I said it just now as well when I met him. It’s all his hard work – what he’s been doing behind the doors when he was not playing. The way he batted completely took the side to victory.”
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