Kotak was impressed with Samson’s shot selection. “Although he is batting aggressively, you will notice that he is playing most balls on merit, which is a great sign. But what I liked about his inning is that at no stage did he panic or play a bad shot. He was in full control and that was special,” he said.
Kolkata: Two early wickets while chasing a huge target in a crunch game got every Indian under pressure. Assistant batting coach Sitanshu Kotak admitted the dugout too was tense during the initial part of India’s chase of a mammoth 195 against West Indies on Sunday night.
That was until Sanju Samson dropped the anchor and played a gem of a knock that took the Blues to semifinals. “I think the support staff are equally under pressure but our role is small. It’s the players who go out there on the field and perform and they should get the credit,” a modest Kotak, who has worked quite a bit on Samson’s batting, said.
He did not want to delve into the technical adjustments made though. “Everyone had trust in Sanju and knew he would come out and perform somewhere,” he said.
Asked how he kept Samson motivated when he was out of the playing eleven, Kotak said: “I have known him for a long time and have a good idea of his mindset. Sometimes when asked to bat in the first set at the team’s net practice, he would smile (knowing well he would not figure in the playing XI). He knows how good he is and wanted to perform whenever the team needed him.”
Kotak was impressed with Samson’s shot selection. “Although he is batting aggressively, you will notice that he is playing most balls on merit, which is a great sign. But what I liked about his inning is that at no stage did he panic or play a bad shot. He was in full control and that was special,” he said.
