Sanju Samson makes a massive revelation about Gautam Gambhir after his flop show against Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka tour of July-August marked the first tour for India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir as he replaced Rahul Dravid to the position earlier this year. India had mixed results to this end as they managed to win the T20I series 3-0 but lost the ODI series 0-2. Suryakumar Yadav’s side also managed to complete a whitewash in the T20Is but it was a disappointing tour for Sanju Samson who registered two consecutive ducks.

Though the sorry episode caused a lot of interest, Samson was retained for the next T20I series, which was again against Bangladesh in their backyard. He scored 29 in the first match of the series and then scored 10 in the second match as India managed to take a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

After all, it would not be a shocking conclusion if India rested Samson for the dead rubber in Hyderabad. Nonetheless, the keeper-batter was included in the playing XI and understood that it was do or die scenario for him.

Samson has acknowledged in an interview, that he was at some point dodging the attention of Gambhir after putting up a few low scores.

Back in Hyderabad, the venue for the third T20I, Samson forgot about the past disappointments and let loose to score an amazing innings of a hundred, helping India post a new high score of 297/6.

“A player’s relationship with a coach has certain implications,” Samson said in an interview with Vimal Kumar on his YouTube channel recently. “You go out to perform because you are confident the coach will support you. I wanted to do what was expected of me as far as the management was concerned and for that reason, I got opportunities to prove myself. So when I got out in a one-odd match early, I was avoiding Gauti’s eyes and patiently waiting for my turn. So struck a century, and Gauti bhai was clapping for me. So, really happy.”

Samson admits the Sri Lanka tour was there in the background for him but he has managed to deal with the situation over the years by concentrating on the positives and the areas which he can affect.

“There was a sense of wanting to do better,” said Samson. “I did think of Sri Lanka, consequences of the present and what lies ahead. It is normal of course.”

“Sometimes you do get lost in your thoughts even while batting you are under pressure. I have learnt to take the pressure in a positive way with the help of experience and talks with people. However, I was also aware that these are pretty normal thoughts. I just thought about what I can do, what is in my control and how I am going to help the team after that,” he said.

In 2015, as a 20-year-old, he made his first appearance on the international scene. Since then he has appeared in only 16 ODIs and 33 T20Is but the 29-year old does not mind this.

“I guess it’s been almost a decade now since I donned the national colors the first time,” said Samson. Every individual has their own career timeline. Some are fortunate to be given these opportunities at an early age, for others it happens with a delay, and some don’t happen at all. There are many aspirants that wish to don the Indian jersey, put in the effort, score runs but the opportunity never arises. I was fortunate to have comparatively debuted for India at 20. Thereon it has been on and off more often than not.”

“I realize that there is no universal life path, no identical career and that my story is also different. I have always been looking for the bright side and have always been thankful. The concern shifts to what is within reach and to what is being done correctly. I believed I would eventually make it to the top. In the end, I got to represent my country and played a very good innings, and it was satisfying,’ he said.’’