Sanju Samson is currently in the form of his life, seemingly finally hammering home his credentials as one of India’s best top-order batters after being provided a long leash in the format. With a window opened following the dual retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Samson has found success opening the batting, registering his second consecutive T20I century in a wonderful performance against South Africa at Kingsmead, Durban.
Samson has had to wait for his time in an Indian shirt, but now seems finally to have put the pieces of the puzzle together. Despite a tough start to life under Gautam Gambhir’s tenure as head coach with some poor performances against Sri Lanka, Samson has bounced back with strong performances against Bangladesh and now the Proteas.
Reflecting on how involvement from senior members in the team has helped him get over the mental hurdle of representing India, Samson said in the post-match press conference in Durban: “When you have a supporting captain like Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam bhai and VVS Laxman sir, they all support you during failures. The way they communicate with you in your failures is very important. Everyone knows that if we are going through a negative phase, then the player can get lost there.”
‘You have the confidence that…’
“So at that time, I received a lot of phone calls from Gautam bhai and Surya, telling me what to work on,” continued the wicketkeeper-batter. “Your spin is a little bit like that. You collect all the spinners in Kerala and practice on rough wickets there. You do this, you do that. So if your Indian team’s captain is calling you and telling you how to practise after a duck, then you have confidence that the captain is trusting you.”
“He wants you to do well. So I think all those small, small things play a huge role, I think, coming back here,” said Samson, who debuted for India all the way back in 2015. The chances have been few and far in between for Samson, but now approaching his 30th birthday, Samson has found a maturity that has allowed his naturally expressive game to flourish.
“I’m very grateful for the trust shown in me. I think I’ve been able to give it back to my team management. I feel that it’s just a start. I would like to just practise hard, train hard, just be very grateful walking out to play for my country, and just look to contribute and win games for my country every time I walk in,” concluded the Rajasthan Royals captain.
Samson’s century led India to a dominant 61-run victory at Kingsmead, and will try to repeat the trick at St George’s Park as the teams head to Gqeberha for the second match of the series.
