Chennai, February 26 Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma gave India a strong start as the hosts reached 63 for one after five overs in their Super Eight clash against Zimbabwe in the T20 World Cup here on Thursday.
Brought into the side in place of Rinku Singh, Samson, who played only one match in this T20 World Cup against Namibia, made an immediate impact after Zimbabwe opted to bowl in a must-win game.
Opening in place of Ishan Kishan, he wasted little time to settle down and hit two sixes in the first two overs.
Samson announced his arrival in style, hitting a flat-batted six over extra cover off Zimbabwe's new-ball bowler, Richard Ngarava.
In the following over, he took on Zimbabwe's premier pacer, Blessing Muzarabani, exposing his stumps before smoking a short ball over long-on for another six in a 10-run over.
The pressure was evident on Zimbabwe as Tinotenda Maposa leaked 23 runs in the third over, sending down a wayward spell that included a wide and two no-balls.
Abhishek joined the charge, hitting two fours and a six to build early momentum.
The rejigged opening pair of Samson and Abhishek registered India's best start of the tournament with a 48-run partnership.
Muzarabani gave the breakthrough with an off-cutter as Samson mistimed it to deep midwicket, with Ryan Burl completing a fine catch.
India also made another change, bringing in vice-captain, Axar Patel, as they fielded two changes from the side that had lost to South Africa by 76 runs.
