“You hit too many sixes against Mumbai Indians” - Sanju Samson recalls tongue-in-cheek compliment from Rohit Sharma
Team India keeper-batter Sanju Samson has acknowledged that he has received great support from current captain Rohit Sharma despite being in and out of the national side. He also opened up on a humorous compliment he received from Rohit over his impressive performance with the bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Samson was somewhat surprisingly left out of the Indian squad for the ongoing T20I series against Australia at home. Before that, he was not picked in the 2023 World Cup squad and was not even chosen in the second-string Asian Games team, which shocked several experts and fans.
In a recent interaction on Dhanya Varma’s YouTube channel, Samson opened up on the backing that he has received from Rohit.
"Rohit Sharma was the first or second person who came to me and talked. He told me 'hey Sanju, wassup. You performed well in the IPL, but hit too many sixes against Mumbai Indians. You bat really well'. I had great support from him," the Kerala stumper said.
For the unversed, Rohit captains Mumbai Indians in the IPL, while Samson leads Rajasthan Royals.
Asked about the unluckiest Indian cricketer tag, which is often associated with him, the 29-year-old replied:
“People call me the unluckiest cricketer, but where I’ve reached currently, it’s much more than what I thought I could.”
The aggressive right-handed batter made his debut for India back in 2015. However, he has only played 13 ODIs and 24 T20Is for the country so far, scoring 390 and 374 runs, respectively.
In his first-class career, the experienced cricketer has featured in 58 matches, scoring 3446 at an average of 38.71, with 10 hundreds and 15 half-centuries.
Shashi Tharoor questions Sanju Samson’s absence from T20Is against Australia
Apart from fans, politician Shashi Tharoor, who is a cricket lover as well, also questioned the Indian selectors’ decision to not pick Samson in the T20I squad for the ongoing five-match series against Australia at home. According to Tharoor, the Kerala keeper should have been the captain of the young side.
Sharing his thoughts after India’s squad for the series against Australia was announced, Tharoor took to his X handle and posted:
"This is truly inexplicable. @IamSanjuSamson should have not just been selected, he should have led the side in the absence of all the seniors. His captaincy experience with Kerala and @rajasthanroyals is more current than SKY's. Our selectors need to explain themselves to the cricket-loving public. And why no @yuzi_chahal either?"
Meanwhile, India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series by winning the opening game in Visakhapatnam by two wickets.