Ab de Villiers and Sanju Samson.
Ab de Villiers and Sanju Samson. Image Credit: X

For a long time, the quality of the young wicket-keeper batter for India, Sanju Samson, wasn’t reaping the right rewards in the shortest format of the game. Despite getting the chance into the national side for such a long time, the Kerala-born wasn’t able to make the right impact to impress the selectors of the national side.

Since making his debut in the shortest format for the national side, Sanju Samson wasted a few early opportunities in this career. After 19 runs on his debut in 2015, he could collect only 98 more runs in the next nine innings at an average of below 11 and a strike rate of 110.

However, Sanju Samson turned the clock again with 327 T20I runs in just nine innings at an average of 40.88 and a strike rate of more than 180, shouldering on his two centuries and one half-century at the best score of 11. Most of the fans on social media have been giving a portion of their contribution to the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, and VVS Laxman, who acts in the same role in the absence of the former.

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In the opening games of the four-match T20I series at the Kingsmead in Durban, Sanju Samson became the first Indian batter to celebrate two successive centuries in the 20-over format for the Indian team as he bashed the South Africa bowlers for an incredible knock of 1087 runs in just 50 deliveries at a strike rate of 214, shouldering on seven boundaries and ten over boundaries.

Ab de Villers doubts the role of coaches for Sanju Samson’s return to the purple patch

The former captain and the wicket-keeper batter of the Protea, Ab de Villiers, hailed the batting abilities and skills of the 30-year-old. The latter, at the end of the game, gave its full credit to the captain Suryakumar Yadav, and head coach Gambhir for showing the belief in him. But de Villiers has walked in a different direction regarding the matter.

“Something has triggered there; something has clicked in his game, which is great to watch. The thing about him is that he makes it effortless out there.The veteran expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube channel.  

“I don’t see much experimentation going out there. Not a lot of creativity in terms of funny shots, doesn’t seem that he wants to entertain the crowd and please someone, he just sticks in his little bubble and he just is easy on the eye. The Pretoria-born claimed.

Since the 2016 season of the Indian Premier League, Sanju Samson has crossed the 300-run mark in each edition of the event, and that too with a strike rate of over 135. The leadership seems to have helped him in the matter.

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“Sanju has upped the gear in his game. I hope the selectors are watching this for all the formats. I want to see this guy play all the formats. I think he is really special, someone who can play all the formats in all conditions around the world. The 40-year-old remarked on his views.  

“Something has clicked in the Sanju Samson world, whether it’s the coaching staff, I doubt it. No disrespect to VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Ryan ten Doeschate, and Morne Morkel, whoever is a part of the coaching group. I just feel that this guy has reached the maturity point, he has realized something. It is exciting to all of us Sanju Samson fans. I think there is another gear, a sixth gear, I want to see it unfold.Ab de Villiers concluded.

The second game of the series will take place on November 10 at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha.