India opener Sanju Samson said his desire to live-up to the team’s needs helped him overcome the initial apprehension of competing with his own teammates for a spot in the eleven during the recent T20 World Cup, and churn out a series of match-winning performances. Sanju scored 97 against the West Indies in the must-win Super Eights, and then came up with identical 89 against England in the semifinal and the New Zealand in the finale at Ahmedabad. It completed a remarkable personal turnaround for the Kerala batter, who was moved out of India’s starting eleven in the initial phase of the ICC showpiece after a lowkey bilateral home T20I series against New Zealand.
“I am the type of a person who do much better for others than doing things better for myself. In that series (against NZ), I was competing with my own people (for a place in the team) and I was not very comfortable with it,” Sanju said during India Today Conclave.
Sanju admitted that the failure to find a place in the eleven left him a broken man.
“I was too desperate knowing that my dream is so near. But was the team still trying some combinations? So, is Sanju there or not there? So, that kind of feeling played in my mind at that time.
“I was absolutely broken because my dream was to win the World Cup and I am not even in the XI. So, actually I was gone away for 5-6 days and I started rebuilding myself. Started preparing myself knowing you never know what the game want to give back to you,” he said.
The much-awaited chance came Sanju’s way during India’ Super Eight match against Zimbabwe at Chennai.
The 31-year-old did not make too many runs, but received an assurance from the the team management that he will be in the eleven in the next four matches. It was also partly because the think tank wanted to break the left-hander’s sequence at the top to nullify the effect of rival off-spinners.
“I knew the team management had trust in me. When the World Cup came in I kind of figured out now that the team wants you, so that is the mindset change which happened in my head.
“So, right from the Zimbabwe game, we had to win four out of four matches and the team needs you. So, that’s when it became very positive for me, and I was very fired up,” he said.
Fellow opener Abhishek Sharma was a tad disappointed that he could not produce the kind of knocks expected of him during the World Cup, partly because of a stomach bug.
But the left-hander made a crucial fifty in the title clash against the Kiwis, and was delighted to be able to make a contribution.
“From the day, I started playing cricket the only goal was firstly was to play for the country and then once you played for the country, the ultimate goal is to win the ICC trophies for your country.
“It wasn’t the start I wanted, but still I was happy that because the team was doing well and we were still winning the game,” Sanju said.
“Obviously, I had a dream that I wanted to be a world champion one day and it’s just not about one trophy, as it’s all about how many trophies I can win for my country and that’s all I play about,” he noted.
Abhishek said he enjoyed his alliance with Sanju at the pole position.
“Sanju bhai has always been a very sorted guy. Very loving guy, very caring guy. You know once these kind of players you have in your team then you feel that you have someone behind you. So that’s always been Sanju Samson for us.” On his part, Sanju explained what makes partnership with Abhishek ticks.
“I actually have that kind of combination going right from the World Cup of 2024 as we both have done this more often actually. So, we have kind of a Punjabi friendship going in the middle.
“So we keep it very simple, so I really love batting with Abhishek ‘Lala’, but I really love his character. He’s a very brave and open-hearted kind of a kid and I really love his partnership on and off the field,” he added.
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