Being a Sanju Samson admirer – for any length of time – means suffering from deep ambivalence. It is never a singular emotion: you’re smiling, and then taking your hair apart the next moment.
His batting style embodies the volatility of its career so far: breathtaking, unpredictable, perplexing… you can never, ever fully know.
One day from now, Samson turns 30. It’s been nearly a whole decade since he first put on an India T20I kit. Those were wildly different times. Ajinkya Rahane was leading a B-team in Zimbabwe, and ten of his India teammates from the current team were yet to debut.
In these ten years (including a five-year gap), Samson has batted everywhere from one to seven. Before his century against Bangladesh, he averaged 19.32 in 28 innings with a strike rate of 132.69. This year, he had ducks as an opener, at No.3 and No.5.
Samson’s fans and detractors have oscillated between arguments of “not getting a consistent run” versus “not making the most of the opportunities”.
One thing was clear: Samson was best utilised in the top three: it’s where he had played more than 70 per cent of his IPL career. At three, he’s hit three IPL centuries. But India’s T20I setup, up until recently, believed in stacking the top with anchors. There just wasn’t any space.
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Samson was the antithesis of that safe approach anyway. That meant every early dismissal would be scrutinised, and the lowly numbers scoffed at. The timing and manner of his exits, and his supposed one-track mindset and inflexibility turned him into the poster boy of “irresponsible” batting.
But Samson did not change the essence of his game. And he kept coming back. He’s now played under eight captains and three different coaching regimes. You just couldn’t keep him out for long, even if the results were less than ideal.
“I trust my shot-making ability and approach each ball with an attacking mindset, especially in T20Is,” he told JioCinema after the Durban hundred. “With this approach, there is success and failure as well – there are a lot of questions around me building the innings and consistency. In T20Is, I never thought of consistency, if there is a ball to be hit, it’s necessary for me to capitalise on that.”
With the seniors at the top, and middle-order options galore, Samson’s ins-and-outs did not help his cause. But the T20 World Cup (where he did not get a game), and a set of three retirements, were supposed to be the big break Samson needed.
In eight innings since the trophy lift, Samson now averages 47 with a strike-rate of 181.66. Six of those eight appearances have come in the top three. The last four have all been as an opener – it’s the first time he’s batted at a stretch in that position.
“For the first time in my career, I received such clarity, and that gave me confidence,” Samson said in Durban. “Team management has been clear for the last few matches that I’ll be opening.”
To his benefit, Suryakumar Yadav, as Rohit Sharma’s captaincy successor, has been able to maintain a separate channel of communication with the T20I players. When Samson was playing Duleep Trophy in September, Surya had plans ready for the series in November.
“Surya came to me [during Duleep] and said, ‘You have the next seven matches. You’ll be opening in these seven matches, and I’ll back you no matter what’.”
This came after Samson had succumbed to twin ducks in Sri Lanka, a month after the T20 World Cup. It was the kind of slip-up Samson was often criticised for – a golden opportunity had passed. But the directive by the Gautam Gambhir-led management was to work on his game against spin and prepare for the next series, against Bangladesh at home.
Even though, as this tweet says, Samson's numbers against spin were solid.
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Against South Africa, Samson was on top of spinners from the powerplay itself: using his feet, opening up the cover region with lofted inside-out shots, before attacking quicks through his much-favoured midwicket region. Keshav Maharaj was hit for 26 off 15 and Nqabayomzi Peter for 27 off 9.
For those fussing over numbers, his career strike-rate has now gone up to 152 (also almost exactly his strike rate versus spin in T20Is). Among all Indian batters who have played as much as him, only Suryakumar Yadav has a better career strike-rate.
By the time he was done, he’d hit 10 sixes, the most by an India player in one innings. It’s joint with Rohit Sharma, whose spot Samson now hopes to keep for a much longer time, and not just as a stop-gap.
"I have faced a lot of failures in my career," said Samson after the knock. "When you go through that failure, you have a lot of doubts in your mind. You doubt yourself. People say social media definitely plays its role in that.
“But you also think a lot about yourself: 'Sanju, are you not made for international level? You are doing well in the IPL. Why are you not doing well internationally?' I have a lot of such thoughts.”
"There are a lot of downs but the upside is also really good. I used to keep telling myself that. If you have a supporting captain like Surya, Gautam bhai or Laxman sir, they help you get through your failures.”
So is this it, then – has Samson finally made it? Two T20I centuries are what most people get in a lifetime. Samson has got two-in-two. It surely can’t be another blip: from whatever we understand of Samson, he’s likely to continue his same merry ways, just like he would have after two ducks. More than anything, he sounds like he’s in a much better space. Belated as it may be, his career might finally be making sense to him, and us.
Perhaps, a line from his much-adored superstar Rajinikanth’s 1995 Tamil movie Muthu captures the enigma that is Samson.
"Naan eppo varuven, epdi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu. Aana vara vendiya nerathula, correct-aa varuven."
“No one can tell when or how I'll arrive – but I always do, when the time is right”.
After countless comebacks, the second bit might finally be now.
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