Sanju Samson showed what it takes in the first T20I between India and England at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday (January 22).
Bowling first, India produced a brilliant display as they defeated England by a modest total of 132 runs. Asked to bat first, England got off to a disastrous start, losing two wickets inside three overs. Arshdeep Singh struck in the very first over to send back Phil Salt for three balls in the first over.
In the third over, the left-arm pacer struck again to bring back Ben Duckett to reduce England to 17 for 2. England captain Jos Buttler then hit a couple of boundaries to give the innings a much-needed boost. He and Harry Brook shared 48 runs for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy in the 8th over.
In the same over, the Indian bowler also dismissed Liam Livingstone for a duck to leave England 4 for 65. After that, England continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and they ended up losing by 132 runs.
At the end of the 10th over, they were on 74 for 4 and seemed destined to post a total of 150 and over. However, the Indian bowlers did a good job restricting England to just 132 runs. Buttler was the top scorer for the visitors, scoring 68 off 44 balls.
No other England batsman could reach the 20-run mark. For India, Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets, while Arshdeep, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel claimed two wickets each.
Sanju Samson takes Gus Atkinson for a cleaning:
After a brilliant display by the bowlers, it was the batsmen’s turn and Sanja Samson did not disappoint. The in-form batsman, who has scored three centuries in his last 5 T20I innings, started his innings with a bang, taking Gus Atkinson clean.
He started the innings by playing 5 straight balls in the first over bowled by Jofra Archer before taking one off the last ball. And in the second over, Sanju Samson was at his best while toying with Atkinson. He hit the pacer for four fours and a six in the over and collected 22 runs.
Watch Sanju Samson blow away Gus Atkinson:
4⃣, 4⃣, 6⃣, 4⃣, 4⃣
Call S for stunning, call S for Sanja Samson 🔥 🔥
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/4jwTIC5zzs#Indian team | #INDvENG | @IamSanjuSamson | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/F6Ras6wYeb
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 22, 2025
Atkinson looked completely distraught after the over and failed to bowl another over in the powerplay. Talking about the match, India were at 93/2 at the end of the 9th over at the time of writing this report.
Gus Atkinson’s reaction after Samson smashed 22 runs in the over. pic.twitter.com/qgBx7lfEpS
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 22, 2025
