Sanju Samson unlucky to miss the bus for Champions Trophy

Sanju Samson was down on his luck not to have made the men in blue team cut for the three-match one-day international series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy. The 170cm tall right-hander, Samson, who likes to joust with rival speedsters and dance down the pitch to the slow men, can be devastating at full tilt.

He is 30 and has some time before the next World Cup arrives two years later. But he may have to reckon with a few more ambitious challengers in 2027. However, it has to be said that an acknowledged winner in the Twenty20 format of the game, he has missed the bus for the 50 overs, a side bilateral series and an ICC event held the last time in the middle of 2017 in England.

Once the five wise men (BCCI’s senior national selection committee comprising Ajit Agarkar (Chairman), Shiv Sundar Das, Subroto Banerjee, Sridharan Sharath and Ajay Ratra) firmed up to stick to the core of the 2023 World Cup team that went all the way to the final but came second best to Australia, it was a no brainer that it would be difficult to look beyond K.L. Rahul for them for the primary wicketkeeper’s slot for the engagements against England and the Champions Trophy.  The top teams from each of the two groups of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand in one and England, Australia, South Africa and Afghanistan in the second --- advance to the semi-finals.

Samson had upped the ante with a streak of three centuries in the last five Twenty20 matches (one against Bangladesh and two against South Africa in South Africa) in the last quarter of 2024. A batter who can be seen at the high and low ends of the spectrum, Samson notched his first Twenty20 century (111 off 47 balls with 11 x 4s and 8 x 6s for a strike rate a little over 236)  at the Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad last October and then followed it up with a 107 off 50 balls with  7 x 4s and 10 x 6s for a strike rate of 214 at Kingsmead, Durban and 109 not out off 56 balls with 6 x 4s and 9 x 6s for a strike rate of 194.54 at the Wanderers, Johannesburg. Between the two three-figure knocks, Samson fell twice without opening his account to take his tally to six 0s in 37 innings.

But by all accounts, 2024 was his best year in the shortest game format.  He scored 436 runs off 242 balls in 12 outings, rattling at 9.31 runs an over. Of these, he made 366 as an opener in eight innings. It was at the top of the order that he scythed through the opposition to score three centuries. In comparison to 2024, he had scored only 378 runs in the previous nine years --- but not playing a single match between August 2015 and January 2020. But being among the runs with a terrific hellbent for leather attitude and approach since October last,  he was a walk-in for the five-match series against England that starts at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata tomorrow (Jan 22). Another competent batter, Dhruv Jurel, is the second wicket-keeper in the side for the matches against Buttler’s team.

Samson’s multiple skills as a wicketkeeper and aggressive batter seen for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL enabled him to come into the national reckoning and achieve a breakthrough in one-day cricket. He has had a good run playing 15 matches since July 2021 (as a keeper in 11 games) and scoring 510 runs for an average of 56.67. In his last innings, he scored 108 against South Africa in the Western Cape city of Paarl.

After his ODI debut, he has competed with three others: K.L. Rahul (28 matches, 928 runs), Rishabh Pant (13 games, 342 runs), and Ishan Kishan (11 matches, 360 runs). The numbers show why the team management and the selection committee prefer Rahul even ahead of Pant in the one-day format. Going for Rahul also allows the captain to look at options in the all-rounder and the bowling departments.

While announcing the squad for the series against England and the Champions Trophy, the last three named were Yashasvi Jaiswal, Pant, and Jadeja. There is a hint here that the selection committee may have discussed Samson but eventually chose Pant because he is a left-hander. Samson, though, did not help his cause by missing the pre-Vijay Hazare Tournament camp in Waynad after which Kerala dropped him for the tournament. But at the end of it all, Samson is part of the Twenty20 scheme of things, and a good showing against England will always keep him in the fray for white-ball competitions.