Sanju Samson: reckless or selfless?

Sanju Samson’s mountainous strikes blazed the early stage of the IPL; he was a literal force of nature that savagely annihilated all in its path. Despite his newfound sheer muscle and power, he maintained the balletic poise and the ludicrously deft touch that we have all associated with Samson in the past. An audacious 74 and a belligerent 85, in RR’s 1st two games, suggested to the world that the undeniably gifted Sanju Samson had finally come of age and was ready to take the cricketing world by storm.

However, his IPL season, despite the early promise, went downhill. He visibly struggled for constancy in his performances and was a fallible victim to the infamous soft dismissal. Sanju Samson’s admirers around the globe groaned in a duo of unadulterated frustration and sadness; they had believed that the 2020 IPL would be the cherished year that Sanju Samson’s impenetrable bond with inconsistency would finally be broken. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Despite an eventually underwhelming season, Samson’s initial brilliance had landed him a coveted place in India’s T20 squad for the tour to India. It was considered a monumental opportunity that Samson had to grab with both hands to salvage his international future.

So far, he has merely produced scores of 23 and 15. These two brief cameos provided a glimpse of Samson’s explosive potential but also revealed his tendency to be dismissed in infuriating ways. Both times, Samson had started well and looked set to accumulate a large score but was sent back to the pavilion due to a miscalculated attacking shot.

As a result of this, many have urged Samson to dramatically tone down his eruptive intent and focus on playing himself in before blasting his way to victory. This is in the belief that, due to his talent, he will morph into a far more responsible and consistent player. Whoever, this as an outdated way of thinking in T20.

In his two brief knocks against Australia, Sanju Samson literally took no balls to get going as he selflessly flayed away at the bowlers. However, this rare ability is no fluke as he has proved, in the past and present, to be a ridiculously rapid starter who is able to score an enormity of runs within a condensed quantity of deliveries, a craved skill in T20.

This is an unknown commodity within the Indian top order as the likes of Kohli, Rahul, Sharma, and Dhawan all generally soak up dot balls at the start of their knocks. This results in more consistency but a lesser strike-rate hence reduced immediate impact.

This anchor dominated top-order amplifies the value that Samson can provide for Team India. He relieves the pressure of his fellow top-order batsmen to score quickly at the start of their innings while conjuring innings that are of great influence to the outcome of the game. However, for this ploy to work at its maximum potential, Kohli and co must hand Samson full license to play with freedom despite initial variability.

Look at England’s white-ball side: the management has encouraged the players to be fearless and not to dread failure as their spot in the side is secure. Not by coincidence, they are also ICC ranked no.1 sides in both white-ball formats. India will need to groom Samson in a very similar manner.

Furthermore, do you remember the last time an explosive Indian batsman was told to curb his attacking instinct? It is certain that you do. Rishabh Pant, once an awe-defying hitter, has subsequently crumbled into a muddled batsman and a meek shadow of his former self.

While Pant still has time, his unfortunate decline teaches us a valuable lesson: when you try to stifle a player’s natural instinct in search of greater consistency, it only sends them further down the long and lonely hole of inconsistency.

One T20I remains in the series and many have foreseen that it will be Sanju Samson’s last chance due to a lack of stability in his batting. However, the sole way to improve that particular aspect of his game is to give him a long rope. India must back him with vigour, publicly and personally, while allowing him to be the explosive dynamite he is. Cricket is predominantly a confidence game and Samson’s performances will soar if he is provided with the appropriate supplements.

If Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson were born in England or Australia, they would have certainly evolved into leading white-ball cricketers by now. However unreasonable this may sound, it is undisputedly Indian cricket’s unresponsive T20 mentality that has stunted the growth of these potential superstars. This distrust and disregard must end with immediate effect.

In conclusion, Sanju Samson is the missing ingredient in India’s T20I side for them to discover vast horizons that they had never dreamt of uncovering before. He is a necessity to end a certain 13-year drought of T20 World Cup trophies.

~ Written by Rahul Palaninathan