Head coach Gautam Gambhir hailed Sanju Samson for keeping India’s T20 World Cup hopes alive with his match-winning innings against the West Indies on Sunday, but told AFP it would take another “special effort” to beat England in the semi-final.<\/p>\n
Samson timed his innings to perfection as the defending champions chased down 196 in the winner-takes-all Super Eights clash to win by five wickets in front of 67,000 fans at Eden Gardens.<\/p>\n
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Samson played only one group stage game, against Namibia, scoring 22, as India opted mainly for the double left-hand opening combination of Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma.<\/p>\n
He was brought back into the side in the previous Super Eights match against Zimbabwe to provide a right-handed option at the top of the order.<\/p>\n
Samson scored 24 and Gambhir saw enough to keep faith with him against the West Indies.<\/p>\n
The coach was rewarded with a sparkling knock containing 12 fours and four sixes as he made an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls in India’s 199-5.<\/p>\n
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“We all know how good a player Sanju is,” Gambhir told a post-match news conference.<\/p>\n
“It was all about backing him and when the team needed him the most.<\/p>\n
“Obviously today was the day when he probably showed his full potential.<\/p>\n
“I have always said that he is a world-class player. He is a great talent and hopefully he can kick on from now and we can see a lot more innings like this.”<\/p>\n
India now move on to Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium and a semi-final on Thursday against England.<\/p>\n
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Harry Brook’s side won all their Super Eight matches and have been ominously improving as the tournament gets to the sharp end.<\/p>\n
“Look, they’re a world-class team, they’re a quality team, they’ve got a lot of quality players as well,” Gambhir said when asked by AFP for his thoughts on the semi-final match-up.<\/p>\n
The Wankhede stadium will present very different conditions to Kolkata, and that will mean new challenges, said Gambhir.<\/p>\n
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“We all know that playing at the Wankhede is a tough game, but it’s another opportunity to do something special for the team and for the country.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully we play our best game, that is going to be very important and we can keep ticking all the boxes.”<\/p>\n
He noted that England were dangerous and growing in confidence so nothing less than 100 percent would be good enough if India are to progress to next Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n
“That is going to be important,” Gambhir said.<\/p>\n
“Because we will need a special effort to beat a quality side like England.”<\/p>\n
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