Sanju Samson’s 111-run assault simply out of the world

You could well call it carnage in Hyderabad on Saturday with Sanju Samson’s explosive brilliance matching the decibel level of firecrackers on Dussehra. Traditionally, this festival is celebrated as good prevailing over evil. But if there was one batter who batted like a devil and literally killed the Bangladesh bowlers, it was Sanju Samson. Forever the cricketer who has not bridged the gap between potential and promise in international cricket, his 111 runs off 47 balls created all kinds of records where his stroke production left in shade the best merchants in T20 cricket. Hammering 11 fours and eight sixes at a strike rate of 236.17, this was vintage Samson, someone who has waited for long.

When you look at Indian cricket, not too many come from Kerala and rock even on the domestic stage. There have been a few who made it big like S.Sreesanth from Kerala but this is not a state which cares too much about the willow sport. There has been a mindset change now, what with a state cricket premier league as well taking place there from this summer, post monsoon. Samson comes from an earlier period, when cricketers from Kerala were not taken too seriously. He was supposed to be the successor to MS Dhoni at one point of time but Indian cricket is blessed it had so much talent to tap into.

Sanju’s massive exploits have been in the Indian Premier League, a club tournament which has resulted in many ascending the big stage called international cricket. From KKR to Delhi and then Rajasthan Royals as his settled base, Sanju Samson is happy, at one month short of 30, to ply his trade. He has been kept waiting in the wings, literally, since wicket-keeper-batters have barged ahead of him into the T20 team. But then, after India won the series against Bangladesh in New Delhi last week, the opportunity was perfect for Sanju Samson to prove himself.

Last year, when Nepal scored 314 for 3 against Mongolia at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China, people called it a joke. That was a (mis)match between two minnows. India vs Bangladesh is a contest between two teams which play Test cricket, so for Sanju to soar was very different. The best part is, Sanju knows he is still not the No.1 choice and he made his way into the team after  Yashasvi Jaiswal was rested. What’s most important is not worry about chances lost but how to grab an opportunity when given a chance. If marks are awarded for that alone, Sanju has nailed it with this 111 which has become the talk of the T20 cricketing world.

It is one thing to see such knocks coming in the IPL, where batters have prepared just for launching assaults on the bowlers. They are taught to score big. But if this is to be the template in international cricket, Sanju has adapted and adopted a new patent, which cannot go unnoticed. The match at Uppal in Hyderabad was a proper ground and the boundaries were not small by any standard. The kind of sixes he hit were outrageous and proof Sanju can still be counted for selection in the Indian team.

Indian cricket is in a transition phase after the highs of the ICC T20 World Cup win recently in the West Indies. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have moved away from the T20 international format, though they will play club cricket – IPL. In this transition phase, so many cricketers are getting a chance. Sanju also got one right at the top as opener and made a meal of it. For someone who has scored almost 4500 runs in the IPL, to still be trying hard and cement a place in Team India is a story which Saju Samson is OK with. Last but not the least, at a time when IPL retentions have not been made officially public, Sanju and his price tag with Rajasthan Royals will be defining. There are a few more T20 internationals coming up before the Test tour to Australia. Sanju has forced the selectors to write down his name in that list with a red ink marker to highlight what he did in Hyderabad.