T20 World Cup | Has Sanju Samson finally found missing key to flailing international career?

‌It was the seventh over of India’s must-win run chase in Kolkata and opener Sanju Samson, who had raced to a 15-ball 29, deliberately played a pull shot through the ground to collect a single. For a batter known for remodelling his game around the slambang version of late, and who got out playing the same shot every single time in a five-match series against England over a year ago, this was a welcome departure.

Though a quiet calm, amid all the chaos of the high-stakes encounter, surrounded him, the fire in his eyes remained intact and the stubborn intent to carry the side home was evident. And even while celebrating his fifty, three overs later, in a rarely seen divine side of his, Samson may not have ever thought he was entering the almost-invincible Virat Kohli territory.

The numbers story say that his knock was the highest by an Indian batter in a run-chase in the T20 showpiece, going past the legendary Kohli’s 82 against Pakistan and Australia in the 2022 and 2016 editions, respectively. But what went beyond the stats and the 12 fours and four sixes he smashed during the innings took him even closer to the modern day chase master in Kohli. Flawless, chanceless, nerveless, peerless, and leaving the job to none other. Whatever adjective you could relate to the former Indian skipper was on display at Eden Gardens in a virtual quarterfinal tie. The interesting fact that 10 of his 16 boundaries were followed by a dot ball or a single showed that the man was happy to stay in the moment and treat each ball to its merit, and take the game till the end, a trait that Kohli owned like no one.

With two stunning hits in the last over, he rekindled those old memories when Kohli would take off for a huge leap accompanied by a giant roar. But the celebrations were subdued here as he once again acknowledged the almighty with open arms, after going to his knees while throwing his bat and helmet away.

“Right from the day I started playing, started dreaming of playing for the country, this is the knock I was waiting for. This is one of the greatest days of my life,” a relieved Samson mentioned during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Dead Man Walking

Parallelly and amid all these, a beautiful allegory played out, with the gestures after the winning hit pointing towards a resurrection of the cricketer within. Not long ago, the wicketkeeper-batter was going through a lean patch, accumulating just 46 runs in the five-match series against New Zealand in January, before the start of the World Cup. And with Ishan Kishan walking into the side in place of the injured Tilak Varma, and amassing 215 runs, including a century, at a strike rate of 231.18, Samson was literally a dead man walking. And the final T20I that took place in his hometown of Thiruvananthapuram, and where he managed just six runs, was widely seen as his last in Indian colours.

The Curious Case of Sanju Samson

Right from the time he made his debut for Rajasthan Royals, under Rahul Dravid, as a teenager in IPL 2013, he was seen as the potential poster boy who would carry Indian cricket forward. The batter brimmed with class, potential and promise whenever he walked to the middle of the park but that never translated to a consistent run in the national side.

After making his debut against Zimbabwe and scoring 19 off 24 balls at number seven in a losing cause in 2015, the batter had to wait for four and half years to play his next game. However, he was also guilty of not making use of the opportunities that came his way, albeit in dead rubbers or against smaller opponents, being heavily inconsistent in three of the next four seasons.

And finally the stars appeared to align for the talented batter with Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav taking over the reins from Dravid and Rohit Sharma, respectively, post the 2024 T20 World Cup. After featuring in just 25 T20Is in his first nine years in international cricket, Samson was given an extended run in the format, that too as an opener, in 2024. With the busy red-ball season also progressing simultaneously, taking regulars Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the shortest format, Samson was informed that he would partner rookie Abhishek Sharma for the remaining seven matches against Bangladesh and South Africa.

And the precise messaging and role clarity worked wonders as the batter smashed three centuries to amass 366 runs at an astonishing average of 61.00 and a strike rate of just under 199. But January 2025, once again, saw Samson playing musical chairs for a batting slot after an ordinary showing against England in the five-match duel, averaging just over 10 and striking at 118.60. With Shubman Gill taking over the reins in Test cricket, after Rohit Sharma’s retirement, and subsequently in ODIs, the BCCI and the team management found it necessary to make him an all-format player.

And no guesses there, a successful association with Abhishek Sharma, where the talented Samson added 267 runs in 12 games at an impressive strike rate of 163.80, was broken. The wicketkeeper-batter was summoned to the middle order for the Asia Cup where he struggled to set the pace at number five after scoring a fifty at one drop against Oman. And after a solitary failure in the tour of Australia that followed, the side preferred Jitesh Sharma, a well-rounded finisher and a better option for a middle-order wicketkeeper, over the Kerala batter.

But again in a sudden U-turn of sorts, Gill was shockingly excluded from the T20 World Cup squad with the Chennai Super Kings’ new recruit chosen as the premier gloveman and Ishan Kishan, who was in blazing form in the domestic T20 circuit, being picked as the backup.

And just as Samson was braving himself to spend another World Cup on the sidelines, after that dismal New Zealand campaign, lady luck smiled at him. The wicketkeeper-batter was back in the reckoning after Abhishek was ruled out of the group game against Namibia with an illness. The batter continued to put the team ahead of him giving them an electric start in that game, scoring 22 off just eight deliveries.

Though he was replaced by the southpaw in the next game, a combination of indifferent showing, along with opponents using an off-spin match up against the left-hand heavy top order appeared to be concerning. That culminated in the side’s shockingly heavy loss against South Africa in the Super Eight, forcing the management to bring him back in the mix. Another positive start from the batter followed as India notched up 256/4, the highest total in this edition and second-highest overall in their next game against Zimbabwe.

And as he displayed he was not all about clearing boundaries and power-hitting, with his exceptional game sense and maturity levels during the sublime knock against the Windies in a do-or-die contest, it will be interesting to see how the team management deals with him in the near future. And more importantly, will this performance give Samson the confidence to finally reincarnate his international career that has been through a plethora of ups and downs? Only time can tell. But for now let us savour the majestic innings that the batter has put on to help the side reach the semifinal and hope he comes up with a few more to help them defend the crown.