Who Said What? What did Suryakumar Yadav, Shai Hope & Sanju Samson say after the INDvWI match?

India secured a five-wicket win over the West Indies in the virtual quarter-final clash of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to make it to the semi-final.

Delving into the details of the much-awaited match, the West Indies were tasked to bat first after losing the toss as they posted a daunting total of 195/4 in 20 overs, thanks to Roston Chase's 40, Rovman Powell's 34*, and Jason Holder's 37*.

In the second innings, India finished off the chase in 19.2 overs with five wickets in hand. Sanju Samson was the wrecker-in-chief with a 97-run unbeaten knock off 50 balls with 12 fours and four sixes as they advanced to the semi-final.

On that note, let’s take a look at who said what after the INDvWI game.

Suryakumar Yadav | India captain:

"Obviously, it's a great feeling, and the way we played, I think, as everyone said, it was a do-or-die, like a quarter-final game, and the way boys showed character, I think it was a great thing. 

(on Sanju Samson) See, I always say, good things happen to good people who wait, who have a lot of patience. I said it just now as well when I met him. But then it's all his hard work, what he's been doing behind the doors when he was not playing, and he's got the fruit of it at the perfect stage. And the way he batted, took the side completely to the victory. 

(happy with how the bowlers went?) I feel everyone bowled according to the plans. We knew 200 is always a good score to chase here at Eden with the dew and the way wicket becomes in the second innings, the ball comes onto the bat nicely. And the way batters responded later on with those small, small partnerships, I think that was the key to take the game deep. 

(thoughts on the semi-final clash) Very happy to be there at that spot. The way we played, I think from first game, I think we deserved that spot going there to the semi-final. That too in Mumbai, but we won't think about that right now. Rest back, relax, take a flight tomorrow. When we reach Mumbai, we start thinking about it. 

(how do you manage the expectation of a Billion people) See expectations will always be there, but at the same time you should know what you want to do on the field as a team. And I told the same thing to the boys. Yes, there will be pressure, there will be expectations of a lot of people coming to the ground, watching it back home. But at the same time, when a game like this comes, you have to be more courageous, you have to bring your A-game, put the best foot forward, be positive, take a positive option wherever and whenever under pressure. And I think we were quite good in taking that. 

(pressure is a privilege?) Absolutely. I mean, where there's no pressure, there's no fun. And we can't run away from the fact that there's no pressure. There is pressure, we are nervous there. There are butterflies in the stomach. But that too, we are playing in India, home team playing at home venues. There will be pressure, but then it's how you understand that, how you take it, that's more important."

Shai Hope | West Indies captain: 

"Well maybe a few short, especially here on a chasing ground such as this. We just felt as though maybe in the position that we were in, probably could have gone a bit more in the back-end there, but probably didn't start as well as we wanted to with the bat. But again, if you get to 190, the guys put in a good effort there with the ball in the back-end to fight as hard as we could have. Sanju played a really good innings as well, so you've got to give him credit. But yeah, I just felt as though 190 could always work with a score like that, but if you're being critical, you could probably get a bit more runs on the board. 

(on the double-wicket in the 12th over from Bumrah) Yeah, again, he's one of their main strike bowlers and whenever he's got the ball in his hand, something is going to happen. Yeah, it was really good on their part to come and break that partnership there, especially in that situation when Hetty was going really well in the tournament. If he got on, probably gone on to get a big score again today. But yeah, he's one of their main bowlers. You can see when he's called upon, he's always going to raise his hand for India. But yeah, it's just one of those crucial times in the game, but like I said before, we got to 190, I would give ourselves a chance. 

(on his bowling group in this tournament) I thought we were good. The way how we bowled, especially throughout the entire tournament, how we adjusted and adapted to most of the conditions pretty nicely. We played a lot of our games in Mumbai and Kolkata. But we must give the guys credit, especially in the powerplay. We took a lot of wickets, especially in the preliminary stage. Fordie was excellent with the new ball. Aki got some wickets as well at the top. And the spinners did a great job in the middle. Motie was really good again once he came back into the team. And I just thought all-round the bowlers were on song this time around. But it just doesn't get over the line today, we can't continue in the tournament. 

(how do you view your campaign ending at this stage?) You never want to end at this stage. One more game, we would be in the semis, and then, you know, if things go well, then you're in the final for the big one. So, I must give the guys credit for the effort that they put in, but we always wanna go all the way. When you come into a tournament to play, the aim is to win. You know, we've got high standards set for ourselves, and there's no other question for us. We got to make sure we're playing our best cricket on the day, and we also know that the opposition are also coming at us. So it's not a case where you could just rock up and take a win. So you've got to play good cricket, consistent cricket, and take those crucial moments in the game and capitalise on them. Again, today, we didn't do enough to cross the line, and India were the ones to qualify to the semis."

Sanju Samson | Player of the Match: 

"It means the whole world actually to me. I think right from the day I started playing, started dreaming to play for the country, I think this is the day I was waiting for. And very grateful, very thankful. And I’ve always had a very special journey with lots of ups and downs, but I’ve kept on doubting myself, kept on thinking, what if, what if, can I make it? can I make it? But I kept on believing and thanks to the Lord Almighty for actually blessing me today. So I’m very happy. 

(on role clarity with his batting) Yeah, I think that’s why I have been playing this format for a very long time. I think playing IPL around 10 to 12 years and playing for the country from last 10 years, I have not been playing, but looking from the dugout, learning from the greats like Virat Kohli, from Rohit Sharma, like all the greats. I think it’s very important to observe and learn and see what they were doing. I think that really helped me to, I think with my experience, I have only played maybe 50, 60 games, but I’ve seen around 100 games and I’ve seen how the greatest people have finished the games and how do they change their game according to the game. So I think last game we were batting first, so it was all about setting a very high score. So that’s how I wanted to go big right from ball one. But this game was completely different. I think as soon as I wanted to go a bit higher, we were losing wickets. So I think I wanted to build a partnership, wanted to keep on focusing on my process. And I never felt that I will do something special like this, but I was just focusing on my role and just keeping one ball at a time and very grateful. I think this is one of the greatest days of my life. 

(on the crowd support here) Yeah, definitely they do bring lot of energy and they do bring lot of support. But I think on the other end, there is always a question, what if not? (smiles loudly) So definitely that keeps on playing in your mind. But when that thought kept on coming, I just brought myself into the present moment and just looked at the ball and trusted myself to react according to the ball in merit. So I think that worked out pretty well today."

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