IPL 2020: Sanju Samson reveals he faced more than 20,000 balls while training amid lockdown

Rajasthan Royals began their season with a perfect victory against three-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings. The world saw the very best of young wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson who scored 32-ball 74 to smash the bowlers completely. Samson timed his shot so well that he got even dominant over experienced ones like Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja. Now behind every man who puts such a magnificent show at this level, stands a great amount of hard work and struggles.

Only a few might be knowing about how Samson spent endless hours with his mentor Raiphi Gomez at his home. Gomez developed a makeshift net facility on his residence’s terrace in Thiruvananthapuram to help the young player pave his way for all the greatness. After summing up the great outing against CSK, Samson took to his Facebook account to show gratitude to his mentor, Raiphi, who has been working hard on him for the last six months.

He said, “I would like to thank you all for your lovely messages and wishes and thanking everyone who supported me during the lockdown period to train and practice and specially Raiphi Gomez for throwing more than 20,000 balls at me during the lockdown period !!..”

After his swashbuckling knock of 74 runs, which were decorated by nine sixes, Samson was equally impressive behind the stumps too. He was successful to make two lightning stumpings followed by two catches, one of which was breathtaking. He ultimately received the man of the match honour for his overall contribution to the game.

Sanju Samson’s coach talks about their struggles

Samson’s mentor, who has captained the Kerala team in Ranji Trophy, came up to share his experiences during all these odd times. He is currently a deputy manager at the State Bank of India.

“It was very difficult during the lockdown because we did not have access to a lot of facilities. We initially trained on my terrace, where I would give him throwdowns. We focused a lot on having him face different kinds of deliveries. Bouncers, yorkers, and as many variations as possible.

His head position, balance, everything was looked at so that it became a kind of muscle memory. We trained every day for 6-7 hours. We wanted it to get to a point where if he was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night, he should still put away the loose balls for sixes,” said Raiphi Gomez as quoted by The New Indian Express.