Sanju Samson's dangerous batting takes India to the semi-finals

India secured a spot in the semi-finals by defeating West Indies by five wickets in the last thrilling match of the T20 World Cup Super Eight on Sunday, where they will face England on March 5. The Indian team, which batted to chase the target, did not have a good start, however, the actual hero of the match, Sanju Samson's aggressive and responsible innings, took control of the team.

While wickets continued to fall on one side, Sanju Samson stood firm like a rock, facing the West Indies bowlers without any pressure, and did not let the pace of runs on the scoreboard slow down, playing a key role in India's victory. Sanju scored a brilliant 97 runs off 50 balls, including 12 fours and four sixes, remaining not out and leading the team to victory.

Opener Abhishek Sharma scored five runs in the first over, where Akeel Hussain's over did not see any boundary. In the second over, Matthew Forde's bouncer hit Abhishek's helmet, after which the game was stopped for a while and the physios examined him.

On the last ball of the third over, Akeel Hussain got Abhishek Sharma out. Abhishek tried to hit a six on the back-of-length ball but the ball went high in the air and Shimron Hetmyer caught it. In this over, Sanju Samson hit two sixes, giving pace to the team's score, and a total of 17 runs were scored.

In the fifth over, India suffered a second setback when Ishan Kishan was out for 10 runs. He was caught by Jason Holder off the bowling of Shimron Hetmyer. By the end of the power play, the Indian team had scored 53 runs for the loss of two wickets.

After that, Sanju Samson and captain Suryakumar Yadav took control of the innings. In the seventh over, both of them together scored 14 runs, including a four by Samson and a six by Suryakumar. In the tenth over, Samson hit a four off Gudakesh Motie's ball, completing his brilliant half-century off 26 balls.

However, in the eleventh over, India suffered a third loss when Suryakumar Yadav was out for 18 runs off 16 balls. He had put up an important partnership of 58 runs off 35 balls with Samson. Later, in the thirteenth over, Tilak Varma hit three consecutive fours off Shimron Joseph's over, accelerating the run rate, while Sanju Samson also hit a four on the first ball of the over.

In the 14.4 overs of the Indian innings, the team suffered a significant loss when Tilak Varma was out trying to play a big shot. Jason Holder's slow ball was on the middle stump, which Tilak Varma tried to play an inside-out shot, but could not give the desired height. Shimron Hetmyer, standing at mid-off, caught a brilliant catch running backwards.

Tilak Varma scored 27 runs off 15 balls, including four fours and a six. His wicket slowed down the pace of the Indian innings. In the sixteenth over of the Indian innings, the team scored 14 runs, maintaining the pace in the chase. Sanju Samson and Hardik Pandya hit two fours off Shimron Joseph's over, accelerating the run rate.

After that, India needed 36 runs off 24 balls in the last four overs, with Samson and Pandya at the crease. Hardik Pandya was dropped in the seventeenth over when Jason Holder dropped a catch off Shepherd's first ball, which proved costly for the team. The Indian team needed seven runs to win in the last over.

In the nineteenth over, Hardik Pandya's innings came to an end on the second ball of Shimron Joseph's over. He tried to play a big shot but the ball went straight to extra cover, where Jason Holder caught an easy catch. Pandya scored 17 runs and returned to the pavilion.

Earlier, India won the toss and decided to bowl first. West Indies openers, captain Shai Hope and Roston Chase, put up a 68-run partnership for the first wicket. In the ninth over, Varun Chakravarthy broke this partnership by getting Shai Hope out, who scored 32 runs off 33 balls, including three fours and a six.

After that, in the twelfth over, Jasprit Bumrah got Shimron Hetmyer (27 runs off 12 balls) out and also sent Roston Chase back to the pavilion on the fifth ball of the same over. Roston Chase scored 40 runs off 25 balls, including five fours and a six. Shafreen Rutherford was out for 14 runs. West Indies scored a challenging total of 195 runs for the loss of four wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.

Rovman Powell scored 34 runs off 19 balls, including three fours and two sixes, and remained not out, while Jason Holder scored 37 runs off 22 balls, including two fours and three sixes, and also remained not out. For India, Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets, while Varun Chakravarthy and Hardik Pandya got one wicket each.