Sanju Samson now has six ducks in T20Is with two in two games in South Africa. (AP/Screengrab)
The calendar year 2024 will go down as the ‘all or nothing’ year for Sanju Samson. On Wednesday in Centurion, Samson registered his second-straight score of 0, once again bowled in the first over by Marco Jansen. After starting the series with his 2nd straight century in the format, the Indian wicketkeeper became only the second T20I batter from a full-member nation to record five ducks in a calendar year.
Samson in 2024 (T20Is): 11 innings, 327 runs, Highest 111, Average 32.70, Strike rate: 175.80, 100s: 2, 50s: 1, Ducks: 5
It was a 3-ball duck in Gqeberha, where Jansen hit the top of his leg stump when Samson gave room by moving away. It was 2-ball duck in Centurion, but this time it was the top of offstump as Samson seemed to have misjudged the bounce on a short-of-length delivery. Samson now has six dismissals on zero in the format.
It’s the sort of live-by-the-sword and die-by-the-sword approach we have come to expect from Samson, who has mentioned in the past that intent to be aggressive is paramount in this format rather than just accumulating runs. But it seemed that he managed to marry that intent with ability to play longer knocks after his centuries against Bangladesh in Hyderabad and South Africa in Durban. “The consistency is something that is a little missing, and that’s something I’m sure the Indian selectors would be looking for,” former India captain Anil Kumble had said before the South Africa series.
“Failures are part of my life and career. There is doubt, especially with social media’s influence, but at this level, it’s important to focus on improvement. I think when you go through that failure, you have a lot of doubts in your mind. You think a lot about yourself. ‘Sanju, are you not made for international level? I think you are doing well in the IPL. Why are you not doing well internationally?’ So I have a lot of such thoughts,” Samson had said after his century in the series opener.
But the current T20I setup seems to have made it pretty clear that Samson will get his long run as an opener. The back-to-back centuries definitely helped Samson repay the faith of the current management but he’d dearly love to finish the series with a better outing than his last two.
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