Set 226 to win the first T20I against New Zealand, India pulled off a thrilling chase, with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma giving the world champions a flying start.
Samson, who made 67 off 33 balls and was named Man of the Match, said the plan was to go big in the powerplay.
When New Zealand finished on 225/4 at Christchurch, the game appeared to be in the hosts’ bag. India had arrived in New Zealand only two days earlier after a long flight and had just one practice session. The seaming conditions in England had troubled them, but in Christchurch they showed no rust.
They scored 94/1 in the powerplay, against New Zealand’s 65/1. A wobble in the middle overs followed, but captain Shreyas Iyer and later Naman Dhir took India over the line with two deliveries to spare and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
“I think mindset really matters. It’s very easy to look at the conditions from two different perspectives. You can say the ball is swinging around so be a bit careful, or you can say the ball is swinging around but have confidence, have the intent to keep your team ahead and take a positive approach. That’s what me and Abhi did. We were having a chat, saying the ball is swinging, what do we do? We just have to stick to our strength and capitalise on whatever we can. Keeping up the shape, watching the ball and timing it: these are the basics we communicated to follow in the powerplay, and that really came off very nicely today,” Samson said in the post-match media interaction.
With Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on the bench, there has been chatter about Samson’s own place in the XI. He made three successive big scores in March as India won the T20 World Cup, but has struggled for consistency since. Samson said he isn’t out there to prove anything.
“I don’t even know what they are saying outside or inside. To be very honest, you can’t think what social media is saying or what other people are saying. You just have to be in the process. Playing for Indian cricket is not easy. There is a lot of noise happening. A lot of people have their own comments. But we have to apply a lot of thought in the game, not try to prove them wrong. I don’t play this game in that kind of mindset. I just keep my cricket up front. I respect my process. I respect my practice and then go out and do what’s best possible,” said Samson.
Since the IPL, India, and the T20 team in particular, have had a gruelling schedule: series in Ireland, England and Zimbabwe, the Asian Games in Japan, and the home series against West Indies before the flight to New Zealand. Samson underplayed the strain.
“The last couple of months, we have been playing a lot of games. But to be honest, I feel very lucky that we are playing games. I would prefer playing games to not playing games. We have been working a lot on our fitness. After the England series, we had a very strong meeting where things were communicated very properly. We have a very tight schedule coming up. Make sure you do your fitness routines nicely. The team has put in some really proper work towards it. Physically, we are definitely in a great state. Mentally also, we have been taking care very nicely. We travel in business class. We stay in really big hotels.