The time has come for breathtaking Samson to launch himself to dizzying heights Premium

Sanju Samson's journey from nearly-man to T20I centurion showcases his exceptional talent and potential for Indian cricket.

For nine years and more, he was the nearly-man of Indian cricket. The occasional ‘oohs’ and the sporadic ‘aahs’ were liberally interspersed with groans of ‘oh, not again.’ His ability was never in question — you only had to watch him bat for a half-dozen balls if you weren’t already convinced — but where were the performances? Where was the correlation between promise and delivery? How could someone so gifted continue to flounder so often against so many?

Of all those grappling with these questions, the foremost must have been Sanju Samson himself. What was going on, he must have wondered? Why? Why are the big runs so elusive in international T20 cricket? Am I destined to be bracketed in the ‘what might have been’ category?

Well, not anymore.

Sometimes, all it takes to turn things around is one knock — maybe even one ball, as happened with Nitish Kumar Reddy in the second T20I against Bangladesh in New Delhi mid-week. A six off a free-hit delivery from Mahmudullah rejuvenated the young lad from Andhra, who smashed 74 on his way to the Player-of-the-Match award in only his second outing for the country. Samson must believe that Saturday night’s stunning 111 against the same opposition in what was essentially a ‘dead rubber’ is the springboard from which he can launch himself to dizzying heights.

It’s strange how the weight of failures in one format does not spill over to another even at the highest level. Before his maiden T20I century, Samson averaged a measly 19.32 in 32 outings in the format. His 50-over numbers, however, bear no resemblance to his tribulations in the shortest version. The 29-year-old averages 56.66 and boasts a strike-rate of 99.60 in 16 ODIs. How does one explain this? This huge disparity in returns in the two white-ball formats for the country?

One can’t, really. Not even Samson can. By his own admission, he wondered what the future held when he picked up successive blobs in Pallekele in July even as his team surged to a 3-0 sweep under new captain Suryakumar Yadav. Samson wouldn’t really have complained had he been overlooked for the next assignment, against Bangladesh, or indeed for Saturday’s last game in Uppal with Jitesh Sharma waiting in the wings.

But fortunately for him, Suryakumar and Gautam Gambhir decided to keep the faith. Maybe they had seen good signs in the two previous innings, when he made 29 and 10. Maybe they felt that with fellow-opener Abhishek Sharma also struggling for form, it didn’t make sense to shake things up even if the result was, in some ways, inconsequential inasmuch as the outcome of an international fixture can be. Maybe they wanted to continue to keep the foot on the accelerator, unwilling to tinker with a winning combination and realising the futility of blooding someone for just one game.