Like Sunil Valson at the 60-over World Cup in 1983, Sanju Samson went through the entire T20 World Cup in 2024 without getting a game. Valson was the only one of the 14 who didn’t figure in a single outing during India’s victorious campaign under Kapil Dev. Samson at least had company in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yuzvendra Chahal, who too didn’t play in even one match as India used only 12 players on their unbeaten march to the title.
Nearly 20 months on, the 31-year-old from Thiruvananthapuram might have feared an encore when, under Suryakumar Yadav, India set out to replicate their heroics of 2024. A series of events, some in his control, others beyond him, had contrived to relegate him at the proverbial last minute to the status of the reserve wicketkeeper-batter after Ishan Kishan made a roaring late charge for the stumper’s slot. With Kishan pencilled in to partner opener Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav occupying the next two positions, and a range of power-hitters, among them three all-rounders, hogging Nos. 5 to 8, Samson was on the fringes, looking in.
Once the tournament started, the same forces that had once aligned against him now decided to shine down benevolently upon Samson. Abhishek contracted a stomach infection that kept him out of the second game against Namibia and Samson flourished briefly as opener on his World Cup debut, dashing to 22 off eight against Namibia. But once Abhishek returned for the next game, Samson returned to the bench, believing that his tournament was over.
From the sidelines to centre stage: Samson’s night of redemption
Destiny had other plans. Of course it did. India lost a left-handed opener to an off-spinner in the first over of their innings three games in a row, so Samson walked back into the XI primarily because he offered a different dynamic with his right-handedness. Like he has done so often, Samson started breezily, easing to 24 off 15, but also like so many times previously, he infuriatingly got himself out with the bowling at his mercy. Not again, Sanju, went the collective groan at Chepauk, and in numerous other parts of the country and beyond, where his die-hard supporters run into the millions.
Those millions were over the moon on Sunday night after Samson produced the most vital innings of his decade-long international career. The attractive stroke-maker has three T20I centuries and a 50-over international ton, but it was a hundred that wasn’t which catapulted him to cricketing stratosphere, seeing as it came in a virtual quarterfinal against West Indies.
Shai Hope’s men, formidable and irrepressible, had posted 195 for four in a match both protagonists needed to win to set up a semifinal showdown against England. It was perhaps a few light, given the nature of the surface and the fact that dew might hamper the side bowling second, but it was still plenty in what essentially was a knockout game. India had never chased these many to win a World Cup encounter; the weight of history and the pressure of expectations combined to make this a most daunting chase.
Fortunately, Samson didn’t seem to think so. From the time he went 4, 6, 6 in the third over of the chase, from left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, Samson was in the ‘zone’, the intangible and undefinable state of mind where everything seems to happen on auto pilot. Athletes crave that space but seldom get there; it’s not something that can be worked towards. It just appears magically one day, and then disappears for a long, long time. The trick is to recognise when one is in the ‘zone’ and to try and maximise it because hey, who knows when it will come a-calling again?
Samson is a veteran of 328 – wow — representative 20-over games but never before had he opened an innings and seen a chase through. But there is always a first time for everything. Sunday became Samson’s first time to erase that anomaly. Sure of mind, steady of hand and fleet of foot, he carried the Indian reply on his sturdy shoulders, which he opened from time to time to smack a mighty blow.
His unbeaten 97 was a masterclass in the art of constructing a chase, something he acknowledged having learnt by watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma at work. There was no hint of panic – not when Abhishek and Kishan were dismissed inside the first five overs with only 41 on the board, not when Suryakumar was caught on the point fence with 97 still needed, and not even when Hardik Pandya perished to bring the equation up to 17 needed off 10 deliveries. Samson trusted his instincts, had belief in his ability to strike the boundaries when required, was secure in the knowledge that till he was around, he would carry the night.
This epic innings that could yet spark his third – or is it fifth? – coming didn’t transpire by accident. Samson is one of the hardest workers, early to nets even when he isn’t playing; he has toiled incredibly zealously to overcome a technical glitch where his pronounced trigger movement caused his left heel to almost slam into his right leg at the time of making contact with the ball. With the weight firmly on his right foot, there was no way he could get balance or power in his strokes, one of the main reasons for his repeated failures against the English short-ball ploy in January last year.
Technique rejigged, chinks sorted out, mind uncluttered and hands flowing through the ball, Samson was dash and daring, but also calculating and composed, on magical Sunday. The exasperation he constantly sparked turned to vapour with each of the 50 deliveries he tackled. By the time he despatched the last of those over mid-on for the winning boundary, Samson had a full house eating out of his hands. As the ball clattered into the ropes, Samson sank to his knees, threw his hands up in thanksgiving and gratitude, and soaked in the adulation. This mass hysteria, it can be addictive, you know? It won’t be the worst outcome for India if Samson were to crave another ‘hit’. And then another one.
