'Flying Samson' - Twitter praises Sanju Samson for saving crucial boundary in final over

Team India went on to win the opening ODI against the home team West Indies on July 22 (Friday) after Mohammed Siraj successfully defended 15 runs in the last over of the match. However, the result could have been different if Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson had not made a full-stretch dive to save a certain boundary in the final over.

As mentioned above, West Indies required 15 runs, with Siraj bowling the last over. The right-arm pacer bowled a dot delivery first up and batters Romario Shepherd, and Akeal Hosein ran a leg-bye on the second ball. With 13 runs required off the last four deliveries, Romario managed to hit a boundary in the third ball of the last over. The duo got another two on the fourth ball of the over.

Sanju Samson made a full stretch dive to save a certain boundary

The second last delivery of the over was bowled way down the leg-side, and Samson showed sheer athleticism, diving to his left and half-stopping the ball. The batting duo on the crease did run a single on that delivery as the ball was called wide by the umpire. West Indies batters could only score three runs on the last two balls as that save by Samson helped India to win the match by three runs.

Talking about the match, India batted first and scored 308/7 in their allotted 50 overs. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan scored 97 runs, followed by fifties from Shubman Gill (64), and Shreyas Iyer (54). In reply, batters Kyle Mayers, Shamarh Brooks and Brandon King made some hefty contributions with the bat.

All-rounders Hosein (32 runs), and Romario (39 runs) were also excellent with the bat but could not win the match for their team. For India, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal and Siraj scalped two wickets each and team India has now gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Meanwhile here are some Twitter reactions on Samson’s save: