Sanju Samson shared a personal story from recent time with the Indian cricket team and revealed how a few words from head coach Gautam Gambhir lifted his spirits when he was struggling for runs.
Samson accompanied the Indian team to the T20 World Cup 2024 in the US and the Carribean, but did not get a chance to feature in any of the matches.
He was then picked for the Sri Lanka white-ball tour, where he initially struggled for runs in the first two T20 matches.
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The conversation happened during India’s tour of Sri Lanka. During that series, there was a time when Samson feared his chance to prove himself might slip away again.
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Samson said that things began to change after the T20 World Cup when Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach and Suryakumar Yadav became captain.
The two met during a Duleep Trophy match in Andhra, where Suryakumar told him there were seven upcoming T20Is and that he would get all seven matches as an opener.
"I was playing a Duleep Trophy game in Andhra. Surya was playing for the other team. He told me, ‘There is a good opportunity coming up for you. We have seven games lined up, and I am going to give you all seven games as an opener,” Samson told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
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Hearing this directly from the captain gave him confidence. Samson admitted he had spent years coming in and out of the team and was desperate for a consistent run of games.
“The words coming out from the captain's mouth itself actually felt, Oh wow, great," he added,
What happened during the Sri Lanka series?
The positive start soon met a setback. In the first two games of the Sri Lanka tour, Samson was dismissed for zero both times. The memories of past exclusions returned, and he feared history might repeat itself.
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That’s when Gambhir noticed him sitting quietly in the dressing room and asked what was wrong. Samson explained that he had wasted his chance. Gambhir told Samson that he would only be dropped after scoring 21 ducks.
"I scored two ducks in two matches against Sri Lanka. I started thinking, 'oh, is it going back to the same thing, two matches in the team and then I go out'. I was a bit down in the dressing room, and Gauti bhai saw. He came up to me and asked, What happened?" Samson revealed.
"I said, I got two chances, but I couldn't score. Gauti bhai said, So what?" Samson said. "Only if you score 21 ducks, I will drop you from the team," were Gambhir's words of reassurance, as revealed by Samson.
For Samson, those few sentences from the coach changed everything. He realised the team management was backing him beyond just one or two games. That trust, he said, helped him play with more freedom.
"Those are the words he used. These kinds of words from the captain and coach raise your confidence. You feel that they really trust you, and want you to do well," Samson concluded.