Asia Cup 2025: Identity crisis over, Sanju Samson is ready to flex his biceps again | Cricket News

“Sanju isn’t a rookie and a youngster anymore. He isn’t trying to prove his potential at this stage,” cautions George. A fledgling Sanju has shed the old norms, moved on from George’s base over the last ten years, during which a wavering graph has kept him flat on the India fringes. A period when he was never considered seriously across formats, deprived of room to explore his near-precocious capabilities.

Samson’s skillset was being discussed with his childhood coach shortly after India’s intriguing Asia Cup squad announcement threw up another probable setback, only months after his most prolific season for the national side.

The inclusion of a returning Shubman Gill as T20I vice-captain echoes a similar message from chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, albeit with a measured undertone. The fear of a cold snub will inevitably hang over Samson when he steps out to bat in whatever role the management opts for him next after Agarkar firmly declared the Kerala batter was opening only “because Gill and Yashasvi (Jaiswal) weren’t there.”

A record three T20I hundreds in 2024 isn’t enough, just yet, for Samson to nail the primary wicketkeeper-batter’s spot before the next World Cup in five months. It is a significant blow for the 30-year-old who now risks the possibility of being remembered as a riff in India’s booming pop of T20 guns, despite being one of the early trailblazers on the ‘intent’ quotient.

The selectors’ cut-throat perspective isn’t an unfamiliar situation. Only this time, it also undercut Samson’s immense overhaul in rewiring his template to power, intensity, and the high-risk/reward factor – cornerstones of the modern white-ball game. The attention has shifted back to the whimsical nature of his craft, observed during India’s last T20I series against England, where Samson was constricted by five consecutive dismissals against skiddy pace and shorter lengths.

The short-ball susceptibility has since been marked as an area of concern. George shrugs off such troubles but questions whether the power-based game is the grain of Samson’s technique and batting.

File image of India batter Sanju Samson. (PHOTO: AP)

Power v timing: Sanju’s identity crisis

“This is a boy who could hang in the air, both feet up, and smash peak Mitchell Johnson through point for a six, someone who could time the ball and clear 80 yards over extra cover facing left-arm spin in his teens. His timing was alright.

“When you are so technically refined, you can hit sixes over cover, point, extra cover, and mid-on without compromising that technique, then do you need a power game?”

George’s disclaimer details the variance of power and range-hitting.

“I am all for range hitting. It is all about trying to clear 80 yards if the boundary dimensions are, say, 60 yards. Even mishits will be trained to clear that mark. In range hitting, we measure our distance for shots like the cover drive and off drive, etc., and we try practising that. Power hitting is when you are only trying to muscle the ball,” he explains.

While his brawn-infused template has garnered Samson fresh reputation as a Powerplay slayer, is his early trouble against pace and the occasional blobs in between a product of his newfound technique? “Not necessarily the case with Sanju, but when you focus excessively on power, technique is often compromised. You are focusing on hitting the ball rather than timing,” George says.

The consistency rebuke for years, and the sheer lack of opportunity with several heavyweights around the white-ball squads for an extensive duration, prompted Samson to take the plunge in early 2020 after self-admittedly coursing through confounding phases of his game. The batter who emerged from the other side was firm in his uncommon outlook on T20 dynamics, even attempting to reposition himself closer to his Biblical namesake five years ago. Desperate for an identity in India’s burgeoning batting market, Samson would sell the tale with a bicep flex and an unbeaten 31-ball 54, laced with seven boundaries, in a steep chase against a fiery Mumbai Indians line-up in Abu Dhabi in October 2020.

“I just remind myself what my name is. I think Samson is the strongest man in the world. I keep remembering that. I am very strong and I can hit more sixes,” he would tell the broadcasters.

File image of Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson celebrating after hitting the victorious shot in the exciting Super Over during the 4th T20I against New Zealand at Sky Stadium in Wellington. (ANI Photo)

Marrying his muscle game with his own definition of the consistency label, Samson has topped the IPL leaderboard this decade; his 130 sixes with a maximum every 13 deliveries are the highest among all Indian batters since 2020. Essentially, Samson does not consciously attempt to fit into the standard Indian schema of high-average batting, but rather associates himself with a desi version of the explosiveness that Chris Gayle and other powerhouses brought to the table.

The more significant aspect in Samson 2.0 is the improved frequency of impactful knocks. 17 of Samson’s 29 fifty-plus scores in an extensive 13-year IPL career have come in his last 83 innings since 2020.

Teaming up with his current coach Bijumon N through this personal transition, Samson has realised better versions in the longer formats too. He ended a prolonged drought between his first and second List A centuries for Kerala in late 2023 with his longest innings (128 off 139 balls) and backed it up with his maiden ODI ton in South Africa in his last 50-over appearance for India.

“Sanju was very realistic when he made that call to transform his game. There’s a greater requirement for scoring faster due to the fleeting nature of the format. What is noteworthy is that Sanju has excelled in producing consistently quick knocks despite a high-risk game. Even in the Duleep Trophy last year, he played in a similar style and scored a hundred,” observes Bijumon, who says that lack of role clarity could haunt him again.

“For Sanju, that cushion was present briefly in recent times. Naturally, it reflected in his performances. Not receiving a regular role is always going to be a challenge,” he stresses.

Samson’s recent typecast as a downright power-based slugger may be an outcome of memory bias, according to the coach. “Having worked with him closely over the last three years, I strongly believe he has the game to suit himself to all formats. Look into his game a little closer, and you can observe every stroke in the book. That we have seen him a lot more in T20s over the last two years may pass the perception of him being limited to the power game,” feels Bijumon.

That Samson’s batting remains in flux even in his power avatar is noted by the discernible changes in movement across assignments. While a high backlift and open stance brought with it a series of rapid scores and frustrating flops over the last two seasons, Samson seems to have deployed multiple batting set-ups when at the crease during the Kerala league outings, even experimenting with a lower-order role.

“Sanju has craved to embrace the power game for a long time. He always wanted to bat this way. When questions were raised over consistency, he had to curb all those instincts before. He didn’t have his freedom and flavour when operating that way,” observes Bijumon.

Smashing 30 sixes in five innings in his maiden KCL season in Thiruvananthapuram, the one place where he remains numero uno, Samson may have just embossed his interpretation. Perhaps, the bicep flex wasn’t a mere celebratory gesture after all, but a comprehensive sneak peek into his true impulse.

“There was a fear of judgment back then,” says the coach. “Now, he is unmasking himself, saying ‘This is what I am.’”