As if decked out with wings of its own, the ball is soaring against the sea breeze, way up into the Mumbai night. When Sanju Samson is in this kind of flow state, the hard physics of batting melts away. There is so little violence there. His bat butterfly-kisses the ball, and as if a whisper has passed and permission has been given, the ball squeals away on a high and euphoric trajectory, rotating giddily as it travels, back somersault after back somersault after back somersault.

In the bucket seats bolted on to the Wankhede’s concrete are more than 33,000, almost all decked out in India powder blue. As their voices rise in unison, the volume swells like a cloud for the ball to land in, but the ball itself has other ideas, leaping off the top tier of the Sachin Tendulkar Stand until finally someone collars the thing down below and ends this adventure.

The Consequential Third Over

We are in the third over of India’s innings. It will turn out to be perhaps the most consequential of the match. Archer had been all over Samson in the T20I series played a little over a year ago in India – Archer taking his wicket three times, as Samson laboured to 25 runs off 23 balls against him. On this night, before the ball’s flight into the top tier of the Sachin Tendulkar Stand, Archer could have had Samson’s wicket, but Harry Brook at mid-on couldn’t hold on, the ball springing mischievously out of reverse-cupped hands.

Perhaps the ball knew what we were about to witness, and what Samson was feeling in his bones. People in creative endeavours know what a flow state is about. Guitarists will talk about how when in their greatest moments, they feel only their hands, the glorious music seemingly appearing out of thin air. Painters have this too. Writers have spectacular paragraphs appear on the page without overthinking brains ever once intervening.

T20s have rightly been over-run by data-driven analyses, the numbers, match-ups, and vital tools to ensuring long-term success and predictability, as corporate concerns increasingly dominate the game. But even the data has not quantified everything.

When You’re in This Headspace

The six into the top tier of the Sachin Tendulkar Stand came two balls after the dropped catch. Later in that same over, Samson delicately deflected a ball to the deep-third boundary. Off the first ball of that same dropped-catch over, he had smoked one through midwicket for four. When you’re in this headspace, the mistakes seem to matter less because only the big picture is in view.

In chess, the other sport India excels at, the greatest practitioners speak of the game becoming like a language when they are playing their best – their opponent’s next move not a studied calculation anymore, but a word in a sentence they already know the meaning of. When Archer came back in the 13th over, Samson hit two of his slower balls for sixes. All up, he reaped 38 runs off 14 Archer balls. History, numbers, match-ups, like hard physics, melt away.

Samson vs Archer	Detail
Previous series	3 dismissals, 25 runs off 23 balls
This match	38 runs off 14 balls
Third over	Four through midwicket, six to top tier (two balls after drop), deflection to deep third
13th over	Two slower balls hit for sixes

Sanju Samson’s Preparation

“Last time when we played them in home conditions, five games we played England, I think Jofra was definitely a very effective bowler at that time. So I had to do some preparation. I had to be a bit more clear in my head how I’m going to face it,” Samson said afterwards. “I think I was a bit more confident that I just played a really good innings couple of days ago. So I think I need to take that confidence forward and that kind of helped me to tackle the bowlers today.”

The Artist and the Broad Canvas

Samson is the closest thing this India top order has to an artist, and the greatest artists stretch the edges of their genre. Shivam Dube would never have been able to play an innings worth 43 off 25 at No. 4 without Samson having blazed his trail. Later, Jacob Bethell produced an entirely different sort of T20 masterpiece, but had it not been for Samson sending the Wankhede’s night into the stratosphere, and India to 253, Bethell would not have quite had such a broad canvas.

In a flow state, there is no stage you feel you cannot conquer. On Sunday in Kolkata, Samson had brought a full stadium to raptures on the eastern corner of India’s vast peninsula. On the western edge on Sunday, he had an entirely different audience in ecstasy. In the lush southern state of Kerala, from where he hails, social media has been going bonkers for most of the week.

After the match, he was quizzed on the good luck he enjoyed because of Brook dropping him on 15. “I’ve had my share of bad luck as well. Today, I got one in my favour, and I took it quietly.”

Quietly, meaning, he had no reason to care much for it. Or for the history against Archer. Or for the sense of occasion. He was in the midst of producing a second successive T20I spectacular. And when you’re batting this well, the remainder of reality melts away.

FAQs

1. How did Sanju Samson perform against Jofra Archer in the semifinal?
Samson reaped 38 runs off 14 Archer balls, reversing a poor record from the previous series where Archer had dismissed him three times and restricted him to 25 runs off 23 balls. In the consequential third over, he hit a four through midwicket, a six into the top tier of the Sachin Tendulkar Stand (two balls after Brook’s drop), and a deflection to deep third. In the 13th over, he hit two of Archer’s slower balls for sixes.

2. What happened with Harry Brook’s dropped catch?
In the third over, with Samson on 15, Archer could have had his wicket but Harry Brook at mid-on couldn’t hold on, the ball springing out of reverse-cupped hands. Samson was asked about this good luck afterwards and said: “I’ve had my share of bad luck as well. Today, I got one in my favour, and I took it quietly.”

3. What did Samson say about his preparation for facing Archer?
Samson acknowledged Archer was “definitely a very effective bowler” in the previous five-game series in home conditions, so he “had to do some preparation” and be “a bit more clear” about how to face him. He said playing “a really good innings couple of days ago” in Kolkata gave him confidence to “tackle the bowlers today.”