The current Indian side is number one and it's not easy to break in: Sanju Samson

When Sanju Samson broke into the limelight with his spectacular performances for the Rajasthan Royals, the world knew he was a special talent. The young Kerala batsman was in the spotlight at a tender age of 18 and ever since he became a popular name in the country. A nonchalant, calm, and composed individual, Samson had his share of struggles, but he bounced back brilliantly.

He had a wonderful IPL campaign this year with the Delhi Daredevils, notching up a hundred and a few crucial half-centuries. To add more glory to what has been a memorable year for him, the Kerala side has qualified for the Ranji Trophy knockout phases for the first time. He has played a crucial role, scoring 577 runs in six matches.

In the knockout phases, they’ll be facing Bengal, who played some decent cricket as well. An enthusiastic Samson spoke to CricTracker’s Aditya Kukalyekar at length about their historic Ranji campaign.

Talking about his pre-season preparations the wicketkeeper-batsman said: “I worked hard on my skills and basics, which I normally do. This time, it was more of a mental thing and I just wanted to go there to express myself. I wanted to be in the moment right from the outset. If I wanted to hit a six or four off the first ball I face, I will go and do it without thinking much about the repercussions, a lot of freedom has come into my batting and I’m enjoying myself.”

Best score this season

The best score for him this season is the 175 against Saurashtra but since he was playing to the plan and scoring quick runs was a higher priority than caring about his personal milestone and thus he doesn’t regret missing out on a double ton.

“When I went to bat, we were on the third day of the game. I just wanted to play positively and I got to my hundred around the Tea break time. We wanted to make them bat the final 15 overs of the day and I had around 10 overs left to accumulate as many runs as possible. I amassed 75 runs in those 10 overs. It would’ve been wonderful to score a double-century, but to stick to the game plan was important. I got out during the acceleration process. The team obviously comes first, so no regrets!” Sanju said.

With an innings victory over Haryana in the 7th round game, Kerala sealed a spot in the quarter-finals. This is the first time the team has qualified for the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy and the 23-year-old cannot contain his joy.

“It’s been brilliant, it’s like a dream come true moment for all of us. We always wanted to get to this stage and we are just three matches away from achieving something historic. Having said that, it’s important to focus on one match at a time. We didn’t struggle to get here, we won all our games convincingly. It’s wonderful that we have such momentum in our hand getting into the business end. We don’t get this opportunity always and we would like to go as long as possible,” he added.

The Kerala boy ever since his India U19 days has always been termed one who would represent the national team and whenever he notches up recognizable performances talks about his inclusion in the team start doing the rounds.

“Frankly, it feels good when people keep talking about me getting selected soon because it’s not easy to get into the team. That gives the motivation to keep on scoring more runs. The current Indian side is number one across two formats and it’s not easy to break in. All I have to do is keep scoring runs and leave it to the selectors. I’m just waiting hard for my opportunity,” Sanju said.

Rahul Dravid’s impact

He counts having played under the watchful eyes of Rahul Dravid very young in his career as a blessing and intends to learn as much from the legend as possible.

“Rahul sir has played so much International cricket and he is one of the best the world has ever seen. When such personalities are coming to you and telling you’re doing well, it’s a huge boost to our morale and you know you’re capable of doing something big. I just have to work on certain things. You never know when your day will arrive, so we have to be ready for every situation. Cricketers go through a lot of ups and downs and it’s important to have such experienced personalities like Dravid around, which keeps us motivated and pushes us to do well at the domestic level,” the youngster further added.

With momentum on their side, he is looking forward to the quarters clash against Bengal and wants to switch off cricket before getting back into the action once again.