Sanju Samson. (Source – Twitter/X)
Sanju Samson and Gautam Gambhir have shared the dressing room playing for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. Gambhir, who led KKR and was a mentor during IPL 2024, had motivated the Kerala batter to show the world what he is capable of after getting picked in T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Though the batter could not feature in the playing XI, the duo is now under the same roof as Gambhir has assumed India’s head coach charge.
Gambhir showed faith in Samson throughout the Bangladesh series and the latter responded with a blistering ton on October 12 in the third and final game after two quiet outings. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, commenting on the camaraderie between Gambhir and Samson, revealed his conversation with the right-handed batter asking him to come out flying just for Gambhir’s appreciation post.
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“Let’s talk about Sanju Samson, the phenomenon. Gautam Gambhir had tweeted a few years ago that Sanju Samson is not only India’s best wicketkeeper-batter but the best young batter in the country. Once I was interviewing him (Samson) and I told him that the only motive in his life should be to get Gautam to tweet,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
“Gautam used to wait for Sanju to do well for him to tweet. Gautam was a Sanju fan. He may still be a Sanju fan because of the way he batted. Firstly, he hit five sixes in an over. He said his mentor had asked him to do so. It came to my mind why his mentor didn’t talk about six sixes,” he added.
Samson was in marauding form against Bangladesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. He completed his half-century in just 22 balls and went on to notch up his maiden T20I ton in just 40 deliveries. He smashed 11 boundaries and eight maximums and ended with an enviable strike rate of 236.17.