India batter Sanju Samson commented on his brave knock against South Africa in the first ODI on Thursday, saying that he was satisfied with his contribution in the game.
Chasing a target of 250 to win in 40 overs, the Indian batting lineup found it hard to get going in the early moments of the match. Samson first put in a good partnership with Shreyas Iyer where he played the anchor role before putting up another important stand with Shardul Thakur.
Needing 30 off the last over, the wicketkeeper-batter kept the team in the hunt by taking on Tabraiz Shamsi. However, India fell short by nine runs despite the valiant knock by Samson. The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 86 from 63 balls.
“It is always nice to spend some time in the middle and we always play to take our team over the line. I missed connecting two shots, next time I will work even harder. But I am satisfied with my contribution.”
“Their bowlers were going about things nicely, Tabraiz Shamsi was a little expensive today so we felt we can target them. We knew he would bowl the last over, I knew if I had to get 24 runs in the final over, I can hit four sixes. I was taking the game deep, the plan was this only and the batters responded nicely,” said Samson.
