Sanju Samson reminisced on the moment that changed his career and self-esteem. The wicket-keeper hitter recalls his first international century, which he scored against South Africa in Cape Town, as a watershed moment that radically changed his outlook.

Sanju's ODI numbers remain remarkable. In 16 matches, he has scored 510 runs in 14 innings at an average of 56.67, with three fifties and one century, with the best score of 108.

“I think that was getting my first international hundred in South Africa. I was in and out of the side, playing a few games here and there. I knew deep down that I was good enough to play at the international level, the biggest stage cricket has ever seen. But until you prove it to people, you don’t get acceptance,” Sanju said on the Sports Cast podcast.

“After that hundred, I don’t know what people were saying, but in my own head, I was totally convinced that yes, Sanju, you are made for this level. That was the moment when a lot of things changed internally. It was a series decider, and I knew if I didn’t perform, I could be dropped. So when I scored that challenging hundred, I told myself, If you can do this, you are meant for something even bigger,” Sanju added.

That inning, he believes, set the tone for his subsequent phase.

“After that, I went into the IPL, scored 500-600 runs, got into the T20 World Cup squad, and started scoring centuries. That was my turning point,” Samson concluded.

However, that was the last time Samson played an ODI for India. He was not included in India’s ODI squad for the Australia series, with Dhruv Jurel being chosen as backup for KL Rahul. Samson has been picked as the primary keeper for the five T20Is.