West Indies captain Shai Hope praised Team India’s star batter Sanju Samson after his match-winning innings guided India to a five-wicket win over West Indies in a Super 8s knockout match of the T20 World Cup 2026 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Sunday. With this, they sealed their place within the semifinals.
Nonetheless, Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls, helping his side chase down an enormous 196-run goal to guide India to a five-wicket win in a do-or-die match of the continued World Cup. Each India and West Indies, tied on points within the Super 8s points table, were required to win the match in an effort to join South Africa, Recent Zealand and England within the T20 WC semifinals. With this win, India arrange their semi-final match with England on March 5 as well.
Speaking on the post-match press conference, West Indies captain Shai Hope praised Sanju Samson, saying, “He played very well, he’s an excellent player, cause it’s also an excellent surface. Especially within the evening time while you’re chasing on a pitch like this within the Eden Gardens, its often easier to attain freely. But taking nothing away from him, like I said he’s a high quality player, he’s been playing very well for therefore a few years now and it’s one among those things – the batter just gets the higher of our bowlers. It’s a part of the sport as well, you will need to give credit for the innings that he played today.”
Shai Hope also said that Sanju Samson batted well and paced his innings perfectly, though he wished it hadn’t come against them as well.
“He shot the ball very nicely from the start during to the tip of the innings and he’s paced it really nicely. He was very smart and calculated with the best way he went about his strokes. But yeah, you will need to give him an A plus with the best way he played today. But we wish he didn’t have that innings today,” Hope added further.
Team India won the toss and elected to bowl first. Roston Chase (40 in 25 balls, with five fours and a six) and skipper Shai Hope (32 in 33 balls, with three fours and a six) posted a gap stand of 68 runs for first wicket, but WI slipped to 119/4 in 14.1 overs, despite Shimron Hetmyer’s quickfire knock (27 in 12 balls, with a 4 and two sixes).
Then Jason Holder (37* in 22 balls, with two fours and three sixes) and Powell (34* in 19 balls, with three fours and two sixes) added 76 runs in 35 balls, taking WI to 195/4 in 20 overs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/36 in 4 overs) was India’s leading bowler, with Varun Chakaravarthy and Hardik Pandya bowling 1/40 in 4 overs each as well.
Within the run-chase, India were reduced to 41/2 throughout the powerplay. It was a 58-run stand between Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav (18), which helped India get on the right track. Then Sanju Samson stitched partnerships with Tilak Varma (27 in 15 balls, with 4 boundaries and a six), Hardik Pandya (17) and Shivam Dube (8*), taking India to a five-wicket victory as well.
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