Since Sanju Samson will be “the one and only Sanju Samson,” he does not need to be the next Mahendra Singh Dhoni. When Congress MP Shashi Tharoor recalled his own prior statement that Samson would be the next Dhoni, Indian cricket coach Gautam Gambhir informed him this.
In an interview with PTI, Tharoor recalled this exchange with Gambhir and praised Samson’s heroics during India’s recent T20 World Cup campaign victory.
Tharoor, who has backed Samson since the beginning of his club cricket career, expressed his immense delight in the player’s accomplishments.
“I actually met him when he was 14, he was a young club cricketer, small chap with a big smile, he was already quite muscular, though he was slender to look at, and tremendous talent, he was already both wicketkeeping and batting.
“I had slightly patronisingly told him that he would be the next Dhoni. Years later, when I recalled that remark, my friend Gautam Gambhir said ‘No, No, No, he does not have to be the next Dhoni, he will be the one and only Sanju Samson’, and that is exactly what he has turned out to be,” PTI quoted Tharoor as saying.
The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said that Samson has been a terrific success—quiet, modest, unpretentious, a good and effective leader who had led the Rajasthan Royals very effectively for many years, adding that Samson will now play for the CSK in the IPL. According to Tharoor, the Indian team’s solidity and anchoring at the top of the order are more crucial.
“When I suffered with him as it were during the trials and tribulations, I felt that if he could just compose himself, it would all come back – that core, that essence, that talent was always there,” he said.
“What I think I saw in his eyes in that match against West Indies, the moment he began that match, I said ‘this guy is not getting out today’. I even told him this later because I actually was watching it on TV but you could see his eyes, you could see the calmness in his face, that sense of being secure and he went on to score 97 not out, he never got out in that match.”
Additionally, he cited Samson’s semifinal and final performances.
“In both those innings, he lost his wicket in a selfless act. When he got to 89, he could have said let me just graft for the next 11 runs, hit the ball along the ground, run the singles, maybe a four, but he went for the big shots because the team he felt needed quick runs and that is Sanju,” Tharoor said.
“He is selfless, he is talented, he is dedicated. He has had the knocks, he really has had bad luck, I remember he scored a century in an ODI and got dropped after that,” the Congress leader said.
“This is a guy who has had to take a fair bit of unfairness and some of his exclusions were justified because he had also been inconsistent. But three innings in a row in a World Cup, that is consistency for you. I would love to see him continue to perform on the big stage both in ODIs and T20s, and one day in a Test match too because that kind of talent deserves its fullest expression in every form of the game,” Tharoor asserted.
Samson scored 321 runs to win player of the tournament in the most recent T20 World Cup. In three pivotal matches, he scored knocks of 97, 89, and 89 to help India win their third T20 World Cup—the first by a home side and the second in a succession.
Sanju’s effort pleased head coach Gambhir, who described him as a special talent. Kerala now has a cricketing star who transcends societal boundaries thanks to Samson’s efforts in the World Cup.
