IPL 2020: Smith hopes Samson will go on and have a great tournament

Dubai - Samson revealed that he had worked on his power hitting, with special focus on his fitness, diet and training.

Steve Smith has played many an epic over the course of his career but the Australian was left in awe after watching his Rajasthan Royals teammate Sanju Samson conjure a scintillating knock in their opening game of the IPL at Sharjah.
The Rajasthan Royals skipper had perhaps the best seat in the house - the non-striker's end, so to speak, as the Kerala-born batsman ruthlessly decimated the Chennai Super Kings bowling attack.
With Samson on song, Smith hoped that the young wicketkeeper-batsman could go on and have a great tournament.
And Samson, who fired up a 32-ball 74, peppered with nine sixes and a boundary, revealed that he had worked on his power hitting, with special focus on his fitness, diet and training, during the enforced break from cricket.
"My game plan is to stand and deliver," Samson said at the post-match presentation.
"If it's in the arc, I go for it. And it is very important to have that intent to hit it from ball one and if it is there to be hit," he added.
The 25-year-old, who is the youngest batsman to score 1,000 runs in the IPL, said he used the lockdown period to work on his power game.
I've been working hard on my fitness, diet and training, and on my strength, because my game relies a lot on power hitting.
"I think range-hitting is what the game demands in this generation. I had time to work out over these five months, and I think I have increased that ability," said Samson, who has played four T20Is for India.
Meanwhile, Smith said that with the way Samson was going, he was just intent on giving the latter the strike.
"We knew we had to score big runs and that's the role Sanju plays. I hope this sets him up for a big IPL," said Smith.
"He takes the game on. He hit some seriously good sixes and just had a positive intent and my role in that partnership was just to get him on strike. He was going and I was trying to get down on the other end and let him do his thing and fortunately that worked out well," he added.
The Australian also had special praise for Englishman Jofra Archer, who blitzed an eight-ball 27 with four towering sixes.
"Jofra loves his batting. He actually kicked me out of the nets yesterday and I said I've been in there for too long, give me a hit," he laughed.
"He came in and played an incredible innings. He hit four of his first five balls for six which is serious going at the start of your innings. He's a terrific player for us, and did well with the ball as well. Great game from him," Smith said.
james@khaleejtimes.com

• IPL 2019