‘He's a quality player’: Shai Hope, Gambhir Hail Samson After Match-Winning Knock at Eden Gardens

West Indies captain Shai Hope lauded Sanju Samson’s match-winning knock of 97* at the post-match press conference, acknowledging both the batting conditions and the quality of the innings.

"He played really well, he's a good player, cause it's also a good surface. Especially in the night time when you're chasing on a pitch like this in the Eden Gardens, its usually easier to score freely. But taking nothing away from him, like I said he's a quality player, he's been playing really well for so many years now and it's one of those things - the batter just gets the better of our bowlers,” he said.

Hope further praised the Indian batter’s game awareness and execution despite wishing the innings had not come against his side.

"He shot the ball very nicely from the beginning all the way through to the end of the innings and he's paced it really nicely. He was very smart and calculated with the way he went about his strokes. But yeah, you must give him an A plus with the way he played today. But we wish he didn't have that innings today," Hope added further.

How Did Gautam Gambhir Assess Sanju Samson’s Composed Batting Approach?

India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir hailed Samson’s composed approach, calling the knock a reflection of his true potential at a crucial juncture of the tournament.

"Sanju is a world-class player, we all know how good a player he is. 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, and hopefully, this is a time for him to kick off and probably two more games to go," Gambhir told the reporters after the match.

Gambhir also underlined the batter’s control and shot selection on a good batting surface.

"Look, I actually thought that he never accelerated the innings. It was just a very, very normal cricketing shot, and I never saw any muscling the ball as well, and that is the kind of talent he has,” Gambhir said.

“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," Gambhir added.

He further noted that the innings could significantly boost Samson’s confidence after a difficult series against New Zealand before the World Cup.

"People will keep looking at his scores and stuff, but then coming back into the team and then playing that kind of innings of 23 - 24, I thought it must have given him a lot of confidence. Because obviously, the guy had a tough series against New Zealand. But we always knew the kind of potential he had," Gambhir said.

Samson carried his bat to register India’s highest successful T20I chase in the T20 World Cup and at Eden Gardens, while also surpassing Virat Kohli’s 82 to record the second-highest individual score for India in T20 World Cups.

Although he has opened the batting in 29 run-chases across T20Is and the IPL, this marked the first instance of him remaining unbeaten till the end of the innings.

(With inputs from ANI)