Samson gets a ton off his back
Before this ODI series, there was some chatter around why Sanju Samson shouldn’t be part of the setup anymore—that he could be one of those rare talents who sizzled all too sporadically, never to exude that sense of stability, and hence should make way for younger alternates. Nearly nine years since his international debut, now we know why Samson is special.
India’s Sanju Samson celebrates his century during the third one-day international (ODI) cricket match between South Africa and India(AFP)
A maiden hundred in a series decider in South Africa, on a Paarl pitch where the ball started coming slower as it got older, Samson maximised the time—all 41 overs of it—to squeeze the most out of himself to set up India’s fourth highest ODI total ever in South Africa.
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Only he wasn’t supposed to bat at No 3 at all, considering how certain KL Rahul was before this series that No 5 or 6 was the best place for Samson. But India were in a mood to experiment, making Rajat Patidar open on debut after Ruturaj Gaikwad was deemed unfit, and sending Samson right after him. Samson fit right in. He has had a fifty against South Africa (86* in Lucknow) before this, but never away. More importantly, most of Samson’s good innings’ came in the middle overs, when he was either left with one specialist batter or the lower order.
These were uncharted grounds for him, but Samson did exactly what was expected from the No 3—building on the early momentum, cautiously navigating the tricky middle overs before blasting off in a rampaging range of shots only he could produce. When Samson finally reached his century, gently driving Keshav Maharaj towards long-on, the relief was writ large on his face.
“Feels really emotional, going through the emotions now,” said Samson when asked about his hundred in the innings break. “Very happy to achieve this. Have been putting in a lot of work physically and mentally, happy to see the results go my way now.”
The frustrating facet of Samson’s stop-start career is how it has been tied down by factors not entirely cricket. He wasn’t lucky to convert some starts while others did. At the same time, he was also guilty of not playing selfishly. Rarely have his stars aligned like this, and even though the pitch didn’t make strokemaking easy, Samson was intent on finding his groove and slowly revealing his repertoire. That the last 24 balls Samson faced fetched 44 runs was expected. But more surprising was how he consolidated India’s start, taking most of the strike and grafting just enough runs to not let the innings stall.
Had it not been for Rinku Singh’s 27-ball 38, India couldn’t have possibly reached 296. But the beating heart of this innings was the 116-run stand between Samson and Tilak Varma, who also scored his maiden fifty. That partnership came almost against the run of the play, in the middle overs when South Africa had applied brakes on the scoring through Maharaj and Aiden Markram’s slow bowling on a slowing surface. Only 73 runs were added between overs 11 to 30 but to Samson’s credit, India were also moving to a position where they could launch a T20-like salvo.
It wasn’t easy, particularly with Varma struggling against spin, snailing to only nine off 37 balls at one point of the innings. But it didn’t frustrate Samson. Instead, he started finding the gaps and taking calculated risks to score boundaries and ease the pressure. “They bowled really well with the new ball, and the older ball was getting slower and more difficult to bat,” said Samson. “So, after KL (Rahul) got out, they had the momentum where Maharaj was bowling very well. But me and Tilak stuck it out and went strong at the end. We were playing an extra all rounder today, so me and Tilak had decided that we have to go hard from the 40th over onwards.”
Not until the 39th ball of his innings did Varma get his first boundary, slogging Beuran Hendricks over deep midwicket. Same over, Samson nearly ran himself out. Four overs later, he was almost caught at deep backward square. But with a majestic pull over wide mid-on for four in the 37th over, Samson showed he was ready to change gears. First, he skipped down the pitch to Maharaj and went inside out for a four. Next over, Samson smoked Lizaad Williams over deep midwicket for a six. Another pulled six off Nandre Burger and Samson had entered the 90s for the first time in his ODI career.
By then the pair had added 71 runs in overs 31-40, and even though Varma fell in the 42nd over, India were cruising towards a 250-plus total. Rinku played his part, fearlessly swinging his bat around but it was Samson who kept pushing for more, so much so he almost got run out on 99 responding to a risky call. This was no faultless innings, but Samson couldn’t have erred at this juncture. Next ball, he finally ended an almost nine-year wait.
