On Friday (6th September), after the last unofficial ODI of the five-match home series against South Africa A, India A wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson decided to donate his match fees to the groundsmen for their tirelessly work during this series.
Greenfield International Stadium (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala) hosted all the matches of this five-match series. Due to the rainy season, all those matches faced rain-interruptions but still, those matches had the results. The fourth game of this series even stretched to the reserve day which India A lost by just four runs (DLS method). However, India A won this series comfortably by the 4-1 margin.
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In the fifth and final game of this series, Sanju Samson played the most crucial role for the victory of India A. After the rain-interruption, while India A managed 204/4 in 20 overs, Samson scored 91 runs off 48 balls. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman hit six fours and seven sixes in that innings.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan was the second most run-scorer in that innings as the left-handed batsman scored 51 runs off 36 balls.
Later, South Africa A were all out on 168 runs as India A won this match by 36 runs. India A pacer Shardul Thakur dominated in that game with the bowling figures of 3-0-9-3. Though the opener Reeza Hendricks (59 runs) and Kyle Verreynne (44 runs) scored goog runs, those were not enough for the visitors.
We have to give credit to the groundsmen – Sanju Samson
Samson won the Player of the Match award in that final game for his extraordinary batting performance. Later, he credited the groundsmen for their successful works. He also decided to give his match fees to the groundsmen
According to IANS, Samson said, “We have to give credit to the groundsmen. Because of them, we were able to play. If there was some wetness here or there, then the match officials would not have allowed matches to happen. We really have to thank them. So I have decided to give my match fees to the groundsmen.”
India A won the first three games of this series by 69 runs, two wickets and four wickets respectively. In the last two games, Shikhar Dhawan participated and scored 52 and 51 runs respectively.