The 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson is ready to work hard to earn a spot in the national team.
Till the date, Sanju Samson has played only one T20I for India and that was against Zimbabwe at Harare (on 19th July 2015). Many experts believe that Samson can be a future star of Indian cricket.
Recently, the legendary Caribbean batsman Brian Lara defended Samson. Lara believes that the talented Samson should be included in India’s World Cup probable.
Samson feels that Lara’s comments give him confidence in his game. While the young man is excited to play for India, he believes in hard work to earn this opportunity.
Samson recently said, “It feels really great when legends like Lara talk highly of you. It boosts your confidence. I am very confident and happy with the way I have been playing. But I am excitingly waiting for my opportunity to play for India.
“There is no point in getting frustrated. You can use it as motivation and push more. It’s not easy to get into the Indian team. You need to work hard and earn that spot.”
I am lucky that I have gone down many times in my career – Sanju Samson
The Kerala cricketer Samson is currently busy in IPL 2019 where he is playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR). He has performed decently in the ongoing IPL season as he is the second most run-scorer for his team in this IPL season. In the IPL 2019, the right-handed batsman has scored 337 runs in 11 innings (average 37.44; strike-rate 151.80). He was the first player to score a century in this IPL season. However, then, he mostly failed to play big innings in this tournament.
While Samson has experienced many ups and downs in his early cricket career, he is enjoying every moment. He believes that the failures have made him strong enough to play for the national side.
He said, “If you talk about my career or anyone’s career, there are definitely ups and downs. Going through such phases I feel is very lucky because when you go down then only you will know how to climb up.
“I am lucky that I have gone down many times in my career. I’m happy to have all these experiences. To enter the Indian team you need to know how to make a comeback, you need to be strong enough and you only get strong when you fail. I failed a lot of times and now I am strong enough to play for India.”
Definitely, Smith’s departure is a great loss – Sanju Samson
In the ongoing IPL season, only one spot is available for the playoffs. RR is currently fighting for this spot as they have earned 11 points in 13 matches. While the English cricketers Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes have already returned to their home, their captain Steven Smith recently left the side.
Samson believes that Smith’s departure is a great loss for his team. However, he is still confident about the remaining side.
Samson said, “Definitely, it (Smith’s departure) is a great loss. First Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and now Smith but we knew this before the tournament. We have enough bench strength to cover for the losses.”
Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane will return as a captain of this RR side for their last league stage game of this season.
We still want to feel that we can still win the cup – Sanju Samson
On Saturday (4th May), RR will play their last league stage match of this season against Delhi Capitals (DC) at Delhi. It will be the must-win game for RR to stay in the playoff contest while they are running with the negative net run-rate.
However, Samson is not thinking much about these tough equations. His side is focusing on simple cricket for the upcoming game.
Samson said, “It is very tough for us and it has been tough for us for the last 5 matches. But the approach has been the same, to win and it is not going to be any different tomorrow. We will be keeping things simple, just go out there and express ourselves.
“The plan is to win the IPL. We know it’s very tough for us now but we need to win this match and be positive. We can’t play thinking that it is our last match. We still want to feel that we can still win the cup.”
In the ongoing IPL season, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI) have already qualified for the playoffs.