Samson backs India's top order, lauds Hope's steadiness

Sanju Samson praised Shai Hope's knock for its 'steadiness' and explained that the Indian batters didn't have the luxury of anchoring the innings themselves while chasing a big total. Registering his second T20I ton in three games, the West Indies skipper led his team to a series-levelling win in Hyderabad.

"He (Hope) is playing really well, we need to respect what he has been doing," said Samson. "He has been playing some really good cricketing shots, not taking that much risk, so he is respecting the bowlers as well. We need to give the credit to him for the way he is batting and we are definitely switched on how to respond to him every game," he added.

Samson himself got India off to a bright start in their pursuit of 248. He faced the bulk of the deliveries in the first-four overs, racing to 56 off 23 balls before falling at the start of the fifth. "When you are chasing a score like that, there is no second thought, you just have to back your instincts, you have to back your power playing game and that is what I did actually," he explained.

"I really enjoyed the knock, but I would have liked it to be on the winning side," he added.

While Samson blazed away, his opening partner Abhishek Sharma struggled and played an uncharacteristically slow knock, consuming 24 deliveries for his 29 - his lowest strike rate in any T20I innings where he faced more than 20 balls. Ishan Kishan, who has enjoyed a standout year, also failed to make an impact after being dismissed early.

"Ishan (Kishan) and Abhishek Sharma are the world's best top two batters, I think you cannot ask anything more out of them, one game is okay. [Abhishek] just scored a really good 70 [69] in the last game and Ishan is consistently scoring a lot of runs, so one game is totally fine," Samson said, backing his teammates.

Tilak Varma and Nitish Reddy revived India's chase with a 70-run partnership after the hosts had slipped to 130 for 5 in the 12th over. "When Tilak (Varma) and (Nitish) Reddy were batting, we were still in the game," explained Samson.

"[They] were taking [on] the pressure moment and they were batting really well, so I think till that moment I think we were in the chase. I think that is a great thing to have actually, even after losing five wickets, having that kind of a control [with] two young cricketers taking on the pressure and taking on the West Indian bowling line-up," he added.

The partnership ended with Varma's dismissal at the end of the 17th over while Reddy fell in the 19th. India ended up getting bowled out for 223 and finished 24 runs short, setting up a series decider in Bengaluru on Saturday, October 17.

"It all comes down to [the] Bangalore game now, we are very charged up, we want to go out there and compete against them. They have been playing some really great cricket, you need to give credit to the West Indian cricket, how they have come here in our home ground and dominated two games. Now it is a final, so let us see how it goes," he said.