New Delhi: It can vividly be seen that he’s slowly on the path to recovery and is bent upon reviving his average cricketing career, which used to flourish at one point of time. It’s none other than the talented Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson we are talking about. The dashing Kerala player etched in name in the history books on Friday evening when he became the first Indian batter to smash consecutive centuries in the shortest format of the game for the country.
The century scored by Samson not only earned him the record but also played an instrumental role in India’s massive win over South Africa in the T20I series opener at Kingsmead, Durban. Opening the batting for India, Sanju exhibited sheer dominance from the word go, not letting the superior bowling attack of Proteas take take the better of him. The batter, who’s equally effective behind the stumps as well, pounced upon the South African bowlers, thrashing them mercilessly all across the park.
Sanju Samson 2.0=Rohit Sharma 2.0
While he was at his best with the bat during the match, we did not shirk and delay in drawing comparisons between him and Rohit Sharma. What he is up to in 2024, Rohit achieved success over the years by walking on the same path back in 2013. So Sanju Samson of 2024 is somewhat akin to Rohit Sharma of 2013.
Rohit had opened a few times before 2013 in the ODIs and T20Is but an opportunity was provided to him by then skipper MS Dhoni during the 2013 Champions Trophy. Rohit was asked to open the innings in the first match and it instantly clicked as he achieved success and kept achieving it in the years after. That opportunity changed his fortunes and in the years to come, India had a permanent and reliable opener across all the formats.
Predominantly a middle-order batter, Sanju was always expected to play the role of a ‘stabiliser’, keeping the voltage in control and not allowing the equipment to damage, what mainly is expected from players who come to bat at number 4 and onwards. But he failed to deliver for India batting in the middle-order and now we see him utilising the opportunity while being promoted to the top of the order.
Will fortunes change for Sanju as well?
While we drew the comparisons between the two players of the Indian team, like it happened for Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson can also shine in the upcoming days as couple of his innings after being promoted to top of the order are surely a testament to the same. During the Bangladesh T20I series, where the experiment of promoting Sanju at the top started, the batter came up with scores of 29 and 10 in the first and the second match respectively.
While the strategy was being looked at carefully after it didn’t gave the desired result and just showed a spark, the third T20I against the Bangla Tigers shut the critics and backed the Indian team management’s decision after the talented batter smashed a scintillating century to set a mark. It was a double glory for him as he almost repeated his innings against Bangladesh in the series opener against New Zealand.
The best thing at this stage would be to wait and watch and gauge the success ahead but it can definitely be called a change of fortunes for Samson and yes, another solid opener for the Indian team might be in the offing.
Sanju Samson became the first Indian player to hit back-to-back centuries for India in the T20I format. His fiery 107-run knock helped India beat South Africa in first T20I. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
