Sanju Samson - India's uncut gem
According to Urban Dictionary, an uncut gem is a person who is rough around the edges but has a good heart. If one were to put this in more relatable lingo, the Adam Sandler movie 'Uncut Gems' comes to mind. The film is about living in a state of perpetual unfulfillment, which aptly sums up Sanju Samson's international career as well.
India recently announced India's squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand. While a bunch of young players are in line to play for the national team, Samson's name is nowhere to be found on the announced list. It didn't take long for fans on Twitter to express their displeasure; tweets with #JusticeforSanjuSamson started doing the rounds.
Samson's exclusion is particularly baffling considering there are five openers in the squad already. Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Rishab Pant are the only genuine middle-order players, with Ishan Kishan possibly getting added to that list too. The vacant number four position, which has been a thorn in the flesh of the Indian side for a while now, is yet again left unaddressed.
India have been hunting for the perfect No. 4 option - someone who can make the most of the platform set up by the top three - for several years. Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, KL Rahul and even Vijay Shankar have had their opportunity to try and make their mark on the side.
Some of the aforementioned players have even been given a long rope in the side, but they have failed to make their opportunities count. While the same could be said for Samson, he has got is nowhere near what some of the names mentioned above did.
It's hard to believe that the player who made his debut for the Indian side in 2015 at the tender age of 21, has still donned the Indian blue jersey just 11 times in all formats so far.
Is time running out for Sanju Samson?
This is the end of sanju Samson's T20 career. twitter.com/CricCrazyJohns…
Throughout his career, there has been one criticism Sanju Samson hasn't been able to shake off from his game - the lack of consistency. The ability and talent that Samson possesses is there for all to see, but his tall scores have usually turned out to be flashes in the pan.
More recently, though, there have been signs of that frustrating trend changing. The 27-year-old has shown some promise on those fronts lately; in the last five IPL seasons, Samson has scored at least 342 runs every term.
While his average is around the 30-run mark, the strike rates stand out, hovering around the 140s. Samson also has 3 IPL centuries in that period, the second most by an Indian player, after Virat Kohli (5).
The Kerala batter has been receiving plenty of praise from former players and pundits. The common belief is that Samson is a much more consistent player when he takes his time to build an innings.
While that certainly holds true, one would reckon that even Samson has realized that in his young but long career already. Yet, he might find himself slipping into the same habits. This could come down to the lack of clarity in his role provided by the team management.
The wicket-keeper batter was made Rajasthan Royals captain in the recent IPL season and it seemed like his batting was flourishing with the added responsibility. Samson scored a century in his first match as captain in their match against the Punjab Kings.
Samson ended the IPL season with 484 runs at an average of 40.33 and a strike rate of 136.72. Even in the ongoing SMAT tournament, the Kerala captain is the team's highest run-scorer.
One crucial aspect of Samson's game is his ability to strike at a good rate in the middle overs. That is key factor for success in the shortest format. In the last two seasons, the Royals skipper has been the only player to average close to 50 with a strike rate of nearly 150 in the middle overs.
Considering all of these factors, one would think Samson has done enough to at least get into what is India's second-string side for the upcoming New Zealand series. But that was not to be.
Still, it might be too early to asssume that this will be the end of Sanju Samson's stop-start career. A new team management, led by Rahul Dravid, might just be the tonic the Vizhinjam-born batter needs to get his career going.
#RahulDravid will be happy to see @IamSanjuSamson getting runs and making it look easy.. The legend has a lot of faith in the young man..
#SRHvsRR #IPL2O21
Samson played under Rahul Dravid's tutelage at the Rajasthan Royals, in the India A side and also in India's recent series against Sri Lanka. While he might get another go in the side with Dravid at the helm, Samson will have to make one of his chances count before it's too late.