Sanju Samson has scored 117 runs in four innings so far for Delhi Daredevils © AFP
Delhi Daredevils batsman Sanju Samson helped set up his team’s third win of the season, on Saturday, with 60 off 48 balls. Coming in at No.3, after Quinton de Kock was dismissed in the second over, Samson rebuilt the innings with allrounder JP Duminy and pressed on to score his fifth half-century against Mumbai Indians. Samson did so without taking too many risks, which is something Virat Kohli has mastered.
“I picked up one big point from watching Virat bhai bat,” Samson told iplt20.com. During each of his innings, he (Kohli) was scoring consistently. But the [important] thing was that he played risk-free cricket in the T20 format [during ICC World T20]. I think it is a great lesson [for] all youngsters that we can play risk-free cricket in T20 and get runs too and that’s what I applied today.”
On 26 off 27 balls at one point, Samson took Harbhajan Singh for a six and a four in the 12th over. JP Duminy then took 22 runs off 11 balls from Jasprit Bumrah.
“He [Duminy] gave me great support in the middle,” Samson said. “We had a good clear plan… It is mainly about targeting some opponents and some bowlers. The decision has to be clear. Against a good team like the Mumbai Indians we have to be very good in our planning and we were this time.”
Samson also said he was looking forward to finish games for his side. “I love to finish games,” he said. “It takes a bit of character and it’s a great challenge to finish matches and win matches for your team.”
“We prepared really well before the auction” – Raina
Playing their first IPL, Gujarat Lions have been the early pace-setters along with Kolkata Knight Riders, with four wins in five matches. Lions captain Suresh Raina attributed the team’s success to smart buys before and at the action.
Lions picked Raina himself, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo at the player draft in Mumbai in December and built their squad with a sprinkling of good Indian players at the auction.
“We prepared really well before the auction,” Raina told iplt20.com. “We picked well at the auction and got a bunch of players we wanted. We have won four of our five matches so far and for that the credit goes to the coaching staff of Hodgy (Brad Hodge), Heath Streak, Shitanshu Kotak and all the members of the support staff.”
Raina said that his captaincy benefitted from his association with MS Dhoni over the “last 10-15 years”.
“I have learnt a lot from the likes of Baz [McCullum], Bravo, Fleming and MS Dhoni,” Raina said. “I have spent a lot of time with MS over the last 10-15 years and I have seen how he goes about his job as a captain before and during a game. I keep talking to him and asking him questions in the field, standing at slip or point, as to what he is thinking and why he made a particular move.”
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo