Samson — from an enigma to a superking Premium

Samson — from an enigma to a superking

For a long, long time, Sanju Samson threatened to become one of the many nearly-men of Indian cricket. His ability and skills were never in doubt; few who have wielded the willow have made batting look so sublime and ridiculously easy, fewer still have dominated bowling attacks without seemingly hitting a ball in anger.

Yet, Samson often loomed as his worst enemy. Pretty little structures seldom made way for magnificent edifices, the outcome wasn’t always directly proportional to promise and potential. When he made runs, he looked a million dollars but those were neither munificent nor consistently significant enough for him to nail down a place in the national side.

His precociousness earned him an India cap in the Twenty20 format as far back as July 2015, when he was still a few months shy of turning 21, but in the decade and a bit since, he has made only 59 more appearances. His ODI debut didn’t happen until July 2021 but even though he boasts an average of 56.66 at a strike rate of 99.60 and made a century in his last outing, he hasn’t been able to add to his 16 caps since December 2023.

So, who is this Sanju Samson? Why is he such an enigma? What is it that has prevented him from giving full expression to his God-given gift – it has to be, because he bats at a level above mere mortals even when he gets out cheaply – when those evidently less talented have established themselves?

The answer, Samson himself will testify, is a combination of a lack of the quality of opportunity and his own self-doubt that has prevented him from taking the next step up. That, and a pronounced technical glitch that has only recently been ironed out, but whose value is already beginning to manifest himself.

The gap between Samson’s first and second T20I appearances appeared to be an indication of the roller-coaster ride that his career would come to resemble. After mustering a 24-ball 19 against Zimbabwe in Harare, he didn’t play a 20-over international for four and a half years. The comeback, mainly behind several hundred exquisite runs for Rajasthan Royals, wasn’t rip-roaring or fairytale-ish. Scores of 6, 8, 2 in his first three innings back were exasperating for the management duo of Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, for the legion of Samson fans and for the protagonist himself, especially considering that in a powerful line-up, he was given the No. 4 position.