Head coach Gautam Gambhir stated that although Sanju Samson is a man of undeniable talent, his terrible performance in the bilateral series against New Zealand compelled the team management to give him a break to relieve the mounting pressure ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Samson led a challenging 196-run chase against the West Indies on Sunday night with an undefeated 97-run knock under pressure. The Kerala cricketer’s incredible knock helped the hosts advance to the semi-finals.
“Obviously, he had a tough series against New Zealand. So sometimes it’s important to give him (Samson) a break as well, because you want to get the guy off that pressure situation as well,” PTI quoted Gambhir as saying at the post-match press conference.
Samson got a whole series against New Zealand after being pushed down the order in the Asia Cup, which disrupted his flow. However, his dismal scoring run of 10, 6, 0, 24, 6 led to commentators penning his epitaph.
Samson did not play in India’s tournament opener against the USA, but due to Abhishek Sharma’s illness, he returned for the match against Namibia before being benched once more.
After Rinku Singh’s father passed away, the team management decided to bring back the opener in an effort to break up the monotony of having too many left-handers in the top order.
Given that it might be challenging for a player to be in and out of the squad on a regular basis, what kind of chats did the coach have with Samson to keep him in the correct frame of mind?
“I have conversations with everyone and the most important thing is the guys who are part of this squad, are world class players and that’s why they are representing the country. We always knew the talent that Sanju had. Three T20 hundreds, not many people have it, so we always knew that. And we always knew that whenever we need him in the World Cup game, he’ll come and deliver for us,” Gambhir said.
Gambhir feels that Samson’s rapid 15-ball-24 against Zimbabwe in the last game, when he replaced Rinku, planted the seeds for his match-winning knock against the West Indies.
“Against Zimbabwe, he delivered for us. We got a start that we wanted in the first three overs. And today, again, from where he left against Zimbabwe, he showcased his talent. And this is what we expect from Sanju to do more consistently,” Gambhir said.
The speed with which Samson scored the runs was the defining feature of his innings. Even though his strike rate was close to 200 (194), he never appeared to be going hammer and tongs, Gambhir concurred.
“I actually thought that he never accelerated the innings. It was just a very, very normal cricketing shots and I never saw any muscling the ball as well and that is the kind of talent he has,” Gambhir reflected.
Samson was observed running several fast twos and hitting a lot of ground shots, which is not often linked with his format.
“When you know that you are in control of the game and feeling good, you start hitting the ball really well in the nets,” Gambhir said.
Although he has always been criticized by his detractors for his consistency, Gambhir thinks that this knock from Samson is the start of many more to come.
“I have always said that he is a world class player, he is a great talent and hopefully he can kick off from now and hopefully we can see a lot more innings like this from Sanju. It was all about backing him. Today was a day where he probably showed his true potential as well. And hopefully, this is a time for him to kick off and probably two more games to go, hopefully,” the upbeat coach said.
