KOCHI: Just like his batting,
Sanju Samson
's name always creates a buzz on social media. His talent has never been in doubt ever since he announced his arrival before the cricketing world with his exploits in the IPL and the Champions League T20 in 2013, as former players rave about his strokeplay.
However, after making his international debut in a T20 international in Harare back in 2015, critics have always questioned the Kerala
wicketkeeper-batsman
's inconsistency.
This has meant that the 29-year-old has only managed to play 25 T20Is and 16 ODIs in the last eight years.
However, this IPL season has been different for Samson for more reasons than one. The Rajasthan Royals skipper has led his side with aplomb, which sees his team sitting at the top of the IPL points table with 16 points from nine games.
But more importantly, this has been Samson's most consistent run in the IPL, with a match-winning unbeaten 33-ball 71 in Royals’ last game against Lucknow Super Giants being one of the high points of his career. He has amassed 385 runs from nine games at an average of 77 and a strike rate of 161.08 and is placed sixth in the run-scorer's chart in this IPL.
Batting at no.3, Samson has been the glue in a star-studded Royals’ batting lineup and has switched his roles as an anchor and aggressor easily.
But this change in Samson's batting hasn't come overnight.
"For the last eight months, Sanju has trained specifically keeping the
T20 World Cup
in mind. He knew performance in the IPL just before the World Cup would be crucial. Our focus was more on his mental make-up before he went out to bat and while he was at the crease. He started focusing on the process. This change has reflected in his batting," says Bijumon N, who has been Samson's personal coach for the past year.
"We did some minor alterations to his batting technique. If you notice now, his bat swing has changed and it is more free flowing," he added.
Throughout his career, Samson was always at ease against pace bowlers but found himself susceptible to spinners. But as is evident in this IPL, there has been a marked improvement in that facet of his game.
"I don’t agree with the assumption that Sanju is not good at tackling spinners. But against the real slow bowlers, at times he has found it difficult. To counter that, he has started to use his feet more now. On the tactical front, he has added a couple more strokes to his armoury against the spinners and has started playing each ball on its merit," revealed Bijumon.
Rajasthan Royals' captain Sanju Samson gestures after his team's win against Lucknow Super Giants. (AFP Photo)
Bijumon travelled with Samson wherever Kerala played domestic cricket in the last season, and their training sessions always revolved around the bigger goal in mind.
"During our training sessions in Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, and Bengaluru, we did a lot of match simulations keeping in mind the IPL and the T20 World Cup. Even now, we keep talking over the phone after Rajasthan's each match and discuss the scope for improvement in his game," he said.
However, the composition of the Indian team bound for the US means that
Rishabh Pant
will, in all probability, be the first-choice keeper of the team management. Having pipped the other contenders for the second wicketkeeper's slot, Samson's chance to make it to the playing XI is only likely to arise if Pant's form dips or if one of the top-order batters has a wretched run.
There is a popular joke in
Kerala cricket
circles that India will only win World Cups if a Malayali is in the squad. Sunil Valson, a Kerala native, who played for Delhi in domestic cricket, was part of Kapil's 1983 World Cup-winning squad while S Sreesanth was in the Indian team that lifted the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup. Will Samson prove to be Team India’s lucky charm in the US and the Caribbean?
English (US) ·