Tuesday was arguably the most significant day in Sanju Samson's career. Along with Rishabh Pant, he was named in India's T20 World Cup squad as a wicketkeeper. It was the first time he was named in any World Cup squad.
Samson's talent was always evident, which is why he has been on the periphery of the Indian team for the last five years. Since the start of 2020, he has played 24 T20Is, more than what Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja (20 each) have played.
But he was rarely the first choice. He was either an injury replacement or part of a second-string side. So he never got an uninterrupted run; in the last three years, only once did he play in two back-to-back T20I series. That, among other things, could be a reason why he was not able to convert his talent into performance.
Another peculiar thing with Samson was that he would start an IPL season with a bang but it would soon turn into a whimper.
At the same time, the competition was getting tougher. KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan were always around. In IPL 2023, Jitesh Sharma, too, presented a strong case by excelling in the finisher's role for Punjab Kings. After Samson scored only 32 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 114.28 on the West Indies tour, the selectors started leaning more and more towards Jitesh.
But IPL 2024 helped Samson pull away from a packed field. Leading Rajasthan Royals, he has scored 385 runs in nine matches so far, at an average of 77.00 and a strike rate of 161.08. Another 100 runs and it will be his most productive IPL, while his current average, strike rate and four 50-plus scores are the best for him in a season.
Just like in the previous years, Samson began the season with a big score - 82 not out off 55 balls against Lucknow Super Giants - but he did not stop there. Three games later, he scored 69 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and followed it up with an unbeaten 68 against Gujarat Titans. In the latest outing, he scored an unbeaten 71 off 33 balls to help RR chase down LSG's 196 with an over to spare.
After the first match, he has scored 303 runs at an average of 60.60 and a strike rate of 162.03.
How did he achieve this consistency? After that opening game in Jaipur, Samson gave a peep into his mindset. "This time, I have been given a bit different kind of role as we are going in with a slightly different combination," he said. "I have been playing the IPL for ten years now, so there has to be some experience coming in. I feel I need to spend some more time in the middle, understand the conditions and then calculate. Playing some ODIs also helped me to play on this kind of wickets."
A deeper dive into the numbers shows that Samson has traded some of the early intent for stability, which has given him exponential returns.
In the last two seasons, he was looking to be aggressive right from the start and was dismissed nine times within the first ten balls. Six of those dismissals came when he was attempting an attacking shot.
This season he has been a little more selective. As a result, he has been more in control of his attacking shots (an increase from 75.26% to 90.91%). While his strike rate in the first ten balls has come down slightly, from 145.69 in the last two years to 137.50, he is yet to be dismissed off an attacking shot during the initial period.
This approach has allowed Samson to dominate for longer periods. At the same time, it has worked for RR, too, who lost their first wicket inside two overs on five occasions, but Samson steered them out of trouble more often than not.
There is one caveat, though, as far as the World Cup is concerned. Samson has scored all these runs at No. 3. That is also the slot where he has played most of his T20 cricket - 124 out of 255 innings - and has found most success.
Unless India leave out Yashasvi Jaiswal and open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, their wicketkeeper will slot in at No. 5, a position that suits Pant more, who also has the advantage of being a left-hand batter.
What's in Samson's favour is that he has dominated the middle overs (7-16) this IPL: 221 runs at an average of 110.50 and a strike rate of 161.31. And he has been excellent against both pace and spin. This is also an area where Samson scores over Pant, who has struck at 117.92 against spin. In fact, Samson and Heinrich Klaasen are the only ones this season to score over 100 runs at an average of 40-plus and a strike rate of 140-plus against both pace and spin.
But it is unlikely Samson will be thinking too much about the World Cup at this moment - there is still one month to go. His immediate focus will be on RR, who have won eight of their nine games and are on the verge of qualifying for the playoffs.
Stats inputs by S Rajesh