“Valiant effort from Sanju Samson”: Virender Sehwag praises Sanju Samson for his top-notch innings while chasing vs South Africa during Lucknow ODI

Virender Sehwag praises Sanju Samson for his exemplary innings which ended in a losing cause versus South Africa during the first ODI.

During the first ODI between India and South Africa at Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, a Sanju Samson masterclass with the bat forced the crowd to stand up on their feet in awe, despite team India bowing down in the contest by 9 runs.

En route the target of 250 in 40 Overs, team India had to bear the brunt of a sluggish start provided by its top-order batters, which breached the 50-run mark as late as the 18^th Over.

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The pair of debutant Ruturaj Gaikwad (19 off 42) and Ishan Kishan (20 off 37) were troubled by some immaculate line and length bowling from the Proteas bowlers, who were further assisted with more than decent help from the pitch as well.

The duo did stitch together a 40-run partnership for the third wicket, but chew up quite a many deliveries (69) in the process, with the required run-rate skyrocketing past every Over.

Virender Sehwag praises Sanju Samson for his top-notch innings vs South Africa

However, Sanju Samson then managed to stitch a couple of quick fire partnerships – worth 67 runs off mere 54 deliveries alongside Shreyas Iyer (50 off 37) for the fifth wicket, and then for the sixth wicket with Shardul Thakur (33 off 31) constituting 93 runs off mere 66 deliveries, to stage a staggering comeback into the chase.

However, with India batting with a long tail, things went down South post Thakur’s dismissal, ultimately leaving Samson with 30 runs to hit off the last Over.

The Kerala batter gave his all right till the end, as she smashed Tabraiz Shamsi for a Six and three Fours in the final Six deliveries, but agonizingly fell short of the target the moment he failed to mistime the fourth delivery.

Former India batter Virender Sehwag, took to his social media handle to praise Samson’s valiant knock of 86 runs in mere 63 deliveries (9 x Fours, 3 x Sixes)

Team India will play the next ODI against South Africa at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on October 9.