Abu Dhabi, Sept 19: Sanju Samson made good use of much needed time in the middle as skipper Suryakumar Yadav decided to give every other playing member a hit in the centre, taking India to a healthy 188 for eight against Oman in their final Asia Cup league fixture here on Friday.
With vice-captain Shubman Gill getting out cheaply, the one drop slot warranted a right hander and accordingly Samson (56 off 45 balls) got a chance to bat in the top 3.
It wasn’t the smoothest of his innings on a slightly slowish track but three fours and three sixes off would certainly give him confidence ahead of the business week.
Of all his big hits, the first maximum off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal, a pick-up shot over widish long-on stood out but lack of match time showed as he did struggle to get going.
Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls), coming in at No.7, also did his bit to prop up the score.
It was pretty obvious that India would like to bat first and make full use of the 20 overs before the start of the Super 4s giving sufficient time to their under-utilized middle-order ahead of Pakistan game on Sunday.
The batting order was rightly shuffled giving Samson his favourite slot, promoting Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) ahead of specialist left-hander Tilak or batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5).
Skipper Surya, who pushed himself down to No. 11, also gave Hardik Pandya a chance to get a few hits but he was unfortunately run-out at the non-striker’s end after a Samson straight drive deflected off bowler’s hands to hit the stumps.
Left-handed Axar did his job to perfection in upping the ante and maintaining the tempo set by Abhishek Sharma, who again hit a whirlwind 38 off 15 balls — his third consecutive score of 30 or more. Towards the end, Harshit Rana also contributed with an unbeaten 13 and hit a six of the last ball.
While Shubman Gill’s low score isn’t a concern, the team management would want one of their best batters to fire in the business end of the tournament. (PTI)
