“My confidence was shattered” – Sanju Samson opens up on struggles during tough phase

Sanju Samson recently opened up about his challenging face in international cricket. The wicketkeeper-batter revealed how his struggles to deliver for the team after national comebacks affected his self-confidence, leaving him fuming.

Notably, Samson made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in 2015, scoring 19 runs. It took him five years to make his national comeback. The Kerala batter revealed how he failed to perform after his comeback, managing a string of low scores – 6 (vs Sri Lanka in Pune), 8, and 2 (vs New Zealand in Wellington and Mount Manganui) in 2020.

Luckily, Samson managed to keep his place in the side following a delayed 2020 IPL season (due to COVID), scoring 375 runs in 14 matches for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), hitting three half-centuries. Since then, he has been a regular part of the T20I squad but was often ignored by the team management to accommodate regular wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant. He finally got a longer rope with the team after the Men in Blue's triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Sanju Samson told Ravichandran Ashwin’s Kutty Stories on YouTube:

“29:50- I had already made my debut when I was 20. It took around 5 years to make my next comeback. So, that was the next big dream… I wanted to make a big comeback into the side. That took a lot of work, physically and mentally.”

“30:53 – I scored a 200 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy that's when I made this comeback. I had that confidence, and after that, I got two games in New Zealand and one game in Pune. I didn’t perform there, and I went back with a lot of self-doubt. My confidence was shattered, and I was thinking on the lines of, ‘Everyone trusted you, and you didn’t score.’ You feel angry about yourself,” Samson added.

Sanju Samson finally had a breakthrough year in 2024, smashing three centuries, consecutive tons - 111 and 107 against Bangladesh and 109* versus South Africa. As a result, it took him nearly 10 years to cement his place in the T20I side.

“You definitely go through a very big self-doubt phase” – Sanju Samson on his constant setbacks in his international career

Sanju Samson reiterated that his constant failures in international cricket had forced him to undergo a period of self-doubt. He said in the same video:

“27:10 – That’s something that has constantly been happening to me. And you rightly observed, right from 2014, you think you have come to the Indian team and now everything will start happening. You get the feel that you waited for this, and you are ready for this. Suddenly, unexpected things happen. But you believe that next time you will do better, and what if you flop the next time, too? You definitely go through a very big self-doubt phase.”

‘27:40 – Are you not good enough, boss? A lot of people say, ‘Sanju, they might have played you, or they didn’t play you, they are doing this, they are doing that.’ There will be 10,000 people giving you advice,” he added.

Sanju Samson has now become a crucial cog in the wheels of Team India in T20I cricket. He has played 42 games, amassing 861 runs at a strike rate of 152.38, comprising three tons and two half-centuries.