Sanju Samson produced a blistering century to script India’s emphatic 61-run victory over South Africa in the first T20I at Kingsmead, Durban on Friday (November 8).
Opening the innings, the right-hander took the Proteas bowling attack to the cleaners as he slammed 107 off 50 balls. His knock was studded with seven boundaries and 10 sixes.
With this knock, Samson became the first Indian and fourth batter overall to score back-to-back T20I hundreds. He also equalled the record of Rohit Sharma for the most sixes hit by an Indian batter in a Men's T20I innings.
Samson’s match-winning innings earned him rich praise from the South African legend AB de Villiers, who believes the wicketkeeper-batter has found "another gear" in his game.
De Villiers also said that something has changed in Sanju’s game, as earlier, he used to be "conservative", batting at a strike rate of 140-160.
"Sanju Samson, who scored a massive 100. Back-to-back T20 hundreds, absolutely incredible. Am incredibly proud of the guy, I say proud because I do have a personal connection with him. We have been in touch for a number of years now. I have always been a big fan of Sanju Samson, I just love the way he plays, and I always want him to do well," De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
"He scored a 100 once at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against RCB, I was on the park and I realised that day, that this guy is something special and he is proving me right. For those of you who have followed Sanju Samson, I haven't often seen him bat at a strike rate of more than 200, he is generally more conservative, he is usually between 140-160 and both these hundreds he has scored back-to-back have been very very fast and especially this last hundred," he added.
AB de Villiers also doubted whether head coach Gautam Gambhir and other members of the coaching staff had any role to play in Sanju Samson's redemption.
"Something has triggered there, something has clicked in his game which is absolutely great to watch. The thing about him is that he makes it effortless out there. I don't see much experimentation going out there. Not a lot of creativity in terms of funny shots, doesn't seem that he wants to entertain the crowd and please someone, he just sticks in his little bubble and he just is easy on the eye," the former Proteas captain said.
"Sanju has upped the gear in his game. I hope the selectors are watching this for all the formats. I want to see this guy play all the formats. I think he is someone who is really really special, someone who can play all the formats, in all conditions around the world. Something has clicked in the Sanju Samson world, whether it's the coaching staff, I doubt it. No disrespect to VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Ryan ten Doeschate and Morne Morkel, whoever is a part of the coaching group. I just feel that this guy has reached the maturity point, he has realised something. It is exciting to all of us Samson fans. I think there is another gear, a sixth gear, I want to see it unfold," he further remarked.
Since making his T20I debut in 2015, Samson had an inconsistent run at the highest level which saw the 29-year-old going in and out of the side. But under the Suryakumar Yadav-Gautam Gambhir regime, he seems to releasing his true potential with constant opportunities being given to him.
After his heroics in Durban, Samson acknowledged the crucial support he received from the captain-coach duo during his low phase.
“When you have a supporting captain like Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam bhai and VVS Laxman sir, they all support you during failures. The way they communicate with you in your failures is very important. Everyone knows that if we are going through a negative phase, then the player can get lost there," Samson said at the post-match press conference after the end of first T20I.
“So at that time, I received a lot of phone calls from Gautam bhai and Surya, telling me what to work on," he added.
