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Sanju Samson was not India’s first-choice opener in the lead-up to the tournament. India changed that opening combination at the last moment, but Samson still wasn’t their first-choice opener for the first five matches of this World Cup. Brought in as an unlikely Plan B as India faced four must-win matches, Samson powered India’s highest successful World Cup chase in the second of those.

It was good defensive bowling from India that restricted the West Indies to 195, a neat callback to the 2016 semi-final between these two sides when the West Indies restricted India to 193. Like India was that night, the West Indies were left ruing their opener’s 33-ball 32, in this case also their captain Shai Hope. Outside that, the six-hitting pack scored 163 in 14.3 overs, more than the par for the conditions than their powerplay of 45 for 0.

Lacking extreme pace or mystery in their bowling, the West Indies desperately needed asking-rate pressure or errors from batters who haven’t been in too many ICC must-win games. Those mistakes did come around from Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan, but Samson batted regally for his 97 off 50, taking few low-percentage options, reaching his first fifty in 13 innings in just 26 balls. This was the first time in IPL and T20Is that Samson opened and stayed unbeaten in a successful chase, at the end of which he collapsed to his knees, looked at the heavens, and crossed his heart.