Sanju Samson loves himself some pitch gardening. Between deliveries, during an over switch, and while waiting for a new batter to arrive. He's not fidgeting with his glove strap, or re-taking his guard, or just drifting towards square leg to compose thoughts and fill dramatic pauses in an intense game. Samson is just looking down and flattening out scuffed up parts of the pitch.

A packed Eden Gardens with more than 58,000 people was bouncing with the ebbs and flows of a World Cup epic in the making on a Sunday night, while Samson was still tapping his bat down. If there were nerves or thoughts racing through his mind, it didn't show. Did he seem concerned about the equation? Not quite. India were on 104/3 in 12 overs, coming off a three-over lull.

Surely a glance towards the big screen to check on the required rate was on? He didn't do it. He just pricked the tension bubble that was simmering, with a hit down the ground from deep inside the crease against a Shamar Joseph delivery sent down at 142 kmph. The most Samson emoted all evening was in this over, when he applauded Tilak Varma for a shot over long-off with a glove punch on a raised bat.

Samson hit 12 fours all evening, but the one off Roston Chase at the start of the 14th over was loaded. The off-spinner fired one full and wide from round the stumps, and Samson stood still and squeezed it behind point. It made Daren Sammy pace nervously around the West Indies dugout, before rushing in at drinks break to talk his players into keeping their heads in the game. Suryakumar Yadav could afford to share a laugh with his batters, as India's required equation had gone down from 92 off 48 to 60 off 36.

Eden Gardens has seen such heroics before. Big games have arrived at the doorstep of this famous arena and batters have etched their name in its compelling history. And the tales of their brilliance have often been told and re-told. When the dust settles, Samson's 97* off slip into the folklore, even without it being his most destructive outing in this format.