Indian opener Sanju Samson has revealed that he doesn’t talk a lot with Abhishek Sharma when the duo is batting together for the team. Samson said they just follow the ‘watch the ball, hit the ball’, strategy to make the most of the Powerplay overs.
Samson and Abhishek gave a perfect start to the team in the run-chase of 226 in the first T20I against New Zealand at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Thursday, adding 93 runs off just 35 balls.
While Samson went on to score 67 runs off just 33 balls, Abhishek raced to 29 runs off a dozen balls. Thus, the opening duo was able to put a fine platform in place for the rest of the batters.
Sanju Samson said in the post-match presentation after he was awarded Player of the Match, “We do have a lot of conversations happening in the middle, but nothing makes sense actually. We just watch the ball and hit hard. It has been working very well for us and I like batting with him at the top.”
“The ball was swinging around a lot, I think in the second half, a bit too much actually. But off the surface it was coming on very nicely. So, I think me and Abhi just felt like keeping the shape and having a very positive intent in the powerplay. Once we got off to a flying start, we felt the match could be finished in the first half as well.”
Samson praised the collective effort of the team after captain Shreyas Iyer and rookie batter Naman Dhir scored 42 runs apiece.
“It feels really good. Whatever contribution you make, I think it feels good to end up on the winning side. So, it’s a really great contribution from all of us in the team. So, it was completely a team game today. So really happy that we started off nicely for the series.”
The second T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on Saturday.
