For India wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson, the last three to four months have been mentally hard, but he has endured by improving himself and recovered to score his first-ever ODI century.

Despite Samson's excellent performance in 13 ODI innings with an average of 55.7 and a strike rate of 104, selectors preferred players like Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav for the ODI World Cup in India.

"The last three, four months were challenging for me mentally. So going through all that and coming here I think doing what I did today, I think I feel really happy and grateful,” Sanju said after the 78-run win on Thursday.

Samson's absence from the Asian Games demonstrates how low he ranks on the priority list of the selectors. On Thursday, however, he took matters into his own hands, scoring his first ODI century to help India defeat South Africa in the third game of the series at Paarl.

"I've been blessed in my genes. My father is also a sportsman, so how much ever setbacks you have, I think there's always no other way to come back and bounce back... think how much you can work on yourself and how you can come back more strongly," he added.

SA v IND 2023-24: Sanjay Manjrekar hails Sanju Samson for playing against his nature in 3rd ODI

"Honestly, I think I was not looking at the scorecard. Until I had a partnership with Tilak till then I just wanted to play and like go with the merit. I just watched the ball and bat and the boundaries and the scoring options ultimately happened. So I was just focused on the process and playing one ball at a time and then I think the scorecard kept on ticking.

When Tilak came in when we both had a tough four or five overs I think (Keshav) Maharaj, was bowling the best. I think both the ends were a bit tight. That's when we thought that we need to go on and take some risks at the moment,” Sanju added.

Asked how he kept his calm during the knock, Samson said, "I don't know actually. It comes very naturally to me. It's very important to make really good decisions. When you are calm and when you are aware of your thoughts, emotions of your physical being and mental being that helps me to make some really good decisions."

(PTI inputs)