CHENNAI: If Sanju Samson walks out to bat against Sri Lanka in any of the three matches, it will be his sixth T20I series spread across six-and-a-half years. In that time, he has played 10 T20Is but has never gone past 27 and has an average of 11.7 at a strike rate of a shade over 110. He has hit a boundary once every 10.6 balls and his record against spin is, to put it mildly, shocking. He averages 10.5 against them and gets out to them once every 10 balls or so while striking at 98.
But what that records hides is that Samson has not been given a sufficient run of games to make a case for his inclusion. He has been asked to fulfill different roles in the side: in his 10 matches, he has already played the role of a finisher, in the middle-order, opener as well as a No 3. To try and play that many roles is a bit of a challenge, especially for somebody like Samson, whose inherent carefree strokeplay is already a detriment without the right sort of backing.
At the pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka series, Rohit Sharma wants to give that backing. In a monologue that lasted several minutes, the India skipper was intimate when asked about Samson, who is joint-fifth in the list for most IPL centuries with AB de Villiers.
"That guy has got talent, man," Rohit purred.
As somebody who was addressed with that same 'T' word for a long time while struggling to convert that into runs, Rohit was kind of talking about himself circa 2012. That also makes his words carry extra weight when talking about Samson. "He has got that skillset to succeed. But it's how you utilise that talent that is the most critical part. I think it's up to Sanju now to understand how he wants to utilise the talent and how he can maximise it."
Rohit hopes Samson can utilise it starting with this series as he's in consideration for the T20 World Cup in Australia. The one obvious problem for the 27-year-old is not only the competition for places but the number of players who can bat in multiple positions at the top while doubling up as keepers. However, with the injury to Suryakumar Yadav and the continued absence of KL Rahul, there is a spot in the middle-order for Samson in all three games to try and make an impression. More so because Rohit seems to be a fan.
Rohit himself said so, explaining why he is in the scheme of things. "We see a lot of potential, we see a lot of match-winning ability in that individual. I hope we give him confidence whenever he gets the opportunity to play for us. His back-foot play is superb. Some of the shots you might have seen in the IPL... the pick-up pull, cut, standing and delivering. They are not easy to play, when you go to Australia, you need that kind of shot-making ability."
In those big grounds in Australia, you can never have too many power-hitters and Samson is somebody who ticks a lot of boxes. He's also a very good hitter against pace (strikes at 150 while scoring a boundary every 4.9 balls in the IPL since 2019) so one can see why the team management wants Samson to come good ahead of a World Cup in Australia.
If the previous regime failed Samson a touch, in that they didn't give him the necessary guarantees nor the clarity of role, Rohit's words could well act as a balm. Here's somebody from the senior management who is sending the message across to Samson, building him up, providing him with confidence that the management trusts him. Will he take it?
Like Rohit said, 'he definitely has it'. The challenge is to now 'maximise it'.