• Source:JND
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Sanju Samson reckoned that he had a word with India's T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir about how their confidence helped him become an opener in the shortest format. His international career was full of long waits and brilliant comebacks.

He was first selected in India's 2014 team for the series against England, and there he spent a lot of years on the sidelines, as a like-for-like replacement to MS Dhoni. He played in his 1st T20I match way back in 2015 against Zimbabwe but didn't get enough chances, and hence he was dropped from the national side for four years. He made a brilliant comeback to the side in 2019, but owing to inconsistent performances, he couldn't seal a spot.

He then bounced back brilliantly during 2022 and smashed his first T20I half-century against Ireland, and after that, made significant contributions in the 50-over format, which also includes scoring an unbeaten knock of 86 runs against South Africa. During November 2023, he smashed his first hundred in this format against the same opponent and was also adjudged the Player of the Match award.

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For him, last year was quite brilliant as he was part of the 2024 T20 World Cup winning team, and he then smashed three consecutive hundreds during as many T20I series, including scoring consecutive centuries in South Africa. He also created the record of scoring the most hundreds in the shortest format during a single year.

What Did Sanju Samson Tell R Ashwin?

“I’ve been on and off the team, and that was happening for a very long time. Honestly, that wasn’t easy. It was not easy to have those kinds of feelings. I had already played some 8-9 years of international cricket, and I’d just played 15 games," Sanju Samson was quoted as saying on Kutti stories with Ash.

“I was there, I was not there. And I always tried to keep myself in a positive frame of mind. I kept assuring myself that it would happen, and different people have different journeys. Your journey is different, and be mindful of that, and you will get there whenever you are meant to be. And suddenly the change happened after the [T20] World Cup," he said.

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“Gautam Bhai came in, and Surya came in as the captain. I was playing a Duleep Trophy game in Andhra. Surya was playing on the other team. That’s when he said, ‘Chetta, there’s a huge opportunity coming up for you. We have seven games lined up, and I’m going to give you all seven games as an opener, he added.

This was the kind of confidence Sanju needed post registering a few low scores, and he further revealed, “I was like, ‘Super. Seven games as an opener, it felt great that it came out of the captain’s mouth."

“And then I played two games in Sri Lanka and got out for a duck in both of them. The memories of being in and out of the team started flooding in, and I thought that was it. I was a bit down in the dressing room, and Gauti bhai saw it," he further revealed.

“He came up to me and asked, What happened. I said, I got the chance, but got out for zero. He said, ‘So what’s the matter? I will remove you from the team only if you have scored 21 ducks. That kind of confidence from the captain and coach raised my confidence," he concluded.