Sanju Samson has been named the best player of the match as India methodically chased down the 226-run target to defeat New Zealand in the first T20I match of the ongoing bilateral series in New Zealand.

When New Zealand finished their first innings, posting 225 runs, the win looked far from the Indian cricket team's grasp. But a strong start by the opening duo of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma started to shape things in favour of their team.

Sanju Samson explains his combination with Abhishek Sharma

After the match, Sanju Samson explained how crucial his partnership was with Abhishek Sharma and how they managed to provide the team with the exact start they were looking for.

Sanju Samson told the media that he did have a lot of conversations with his opening partner Abhishek Sharma on how to counter the bowlers, keeping their focus intact on the required run rate. They knew very well that to accomplish the massive run chase, they needed to follow only one direction, which was smashing the New Zealand bowlers.

"We do have a lot of conversations happening in the middle, but nothing makes sense, actually. We just watch the ball and hit hard. It has been working very well for us, and I like batting with him at the top," Samson said after the match in Christchurch.

We just wanted to go all out: Sanju Samson on India's approach to the run-chase

Further in his explanation, Samson, who scored 67 runs off 33 balls with eight 4s and four 6s, claimed that the pitch was not an absolute batting paradise as there was movement on the ball. But as the ball was coming nicely to the bat, it became easier for the Indian batters to score runs.

At the beginning of the run chase, as Sanju Samson stated, he and Abhishek Sharma tried to maintain a positive intent in the powerplay. Inside the powerplay, before the dismissal of Abhishek, India got 93 runs.

"The ball was swinging around a lot, I think in the second half, a bit too much actually. But off the surface it was coming on very nicely. So I think Abhi and Abhi just felt like keeping the shape and having a very positive intent in the powerplay."

"Once we got off to a flying start, we felt the match could be finished in the first half as well. Six overs, 90-odd runs - that was a great start today. So I think we just wanted to go all out," Samson continued.

Sanju Samson on whether wicketkeeping helps him in his batting

The opener and keeper-batter of the team further mentioned that he got some idea about the nature of the pitch while doing his wicketkeeping job in the first innings of the match. But he had to readjust his batting plans as the pitch was a bit different in the second innings.

"Absolutely, you definitely think about your batting while you are keeping wickets. But I think today I summed up my way to play the game while keeping, but when I came to bat, it was completely different."

"In the first half, the ball was stopping a bit from the length area, but in the second half I think the ball was coming on very nicely with heavy dew in the outfield. So I really enjoyed the batting," Samson added.