Kerala keeper-batsman Sanju Samson led India A to victory in the first of the three-match one-day series against New Zealand A in Chennai. The Indian bowlers ran through the visiting batting line-up, bowling them out for 167, which the hosts hauled down with 7 wickets in hand in 31.5 overs.
The Rajasthan Royals skipper, Sanju Samson, who recently suffered selection snubbed from the T20 World Cup squad, was given the captaincy of India A for these three matches against New Zealand A. All the three games are being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
Samson remained unbeaten on 29* off 32 balls, stroking 1 four and 3 sixes. The last of the six was the one that completed the chase and won India A the match, evoking memories of MS Dhoni’s many last six flourishes among the local Chennai crowd who cheered at their loudest at Samson’s six straight down the ground to Rachin Ravindra after advancing down the pitch.
You can watch the video of Sanju Samson’s match-winning six here:
Video Of Sanju Hitting Six and Finishes off in style 😎🔥#SanjuSamson #sanju #samson #IndAvNzA #indAvsnzA #INDvsENG #HarmanpreetKaur #IndVsAus #Chennai #BCCI #NewZealand #IPL2023 #BCCI #odis #DineshKarthik #RafaelNadal #RohitSharma𓃵 #IndianCricketTeam #ViratKohli𓃵 #India pic.twitter.com/PLNR4QcFYN
— Mohammed FARDHEEN (@MohammedFARDHE4) September 22, 2022
Sanju Samson returned not out on 29, adding a crucial partnership of 69 runs for the 4th wicket with Rajat Patidar (45* off 41). Before them, Ruturaj Gaikwad (41) and Rahul Tripathi (31) made vital contributions.
But it was the bowler, in particular Shardul Thakur, who stole the show. Shardul Thakur picked up 4 wickets for 32 runs in 8.2 overs; his wickets included three of the top five Kiwi batters – Chad Bowes bowled, and Dane Cleaver and Robert O Donnel caught.
Young pacer Kuldeep Sen took three wickets while senior leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav took one scalp. Two New Zealand A batters got run out.
After the match, Thakur, who was recently part of the ODI tour of Zimbabwe but has been dropped from the T20I team, revealed that the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid had said to him that they look at him as a three-format player.
“In the first conversation between them and me, they conveyed to me that I am a three-format player for them,” Thakur said on Thursday.
“They are looking at me in all three formats. After that [conversation], we really did not sit and have a chat because we have been playing games regularly. If you see, the schedule is packed. The Indian team is playing series after series with a gap of just four-five days. No one has really had time to sit and chat with each other. All the chat that we have had otherwise was game-based, or planning in terms of strategy for the next game – that kind of stuff.”
