IPL 2020 – How Virat Kohli helped change Sanju Samson’s perspective towards cricket


Sanju Samson has wowed the IPL-watching public with his power-hitting this season. The name of the game to his form, Samson has revealed, is a conversation with Virat Kohli while at the gym, one that has changed the 25-year-old Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper-batsman’s attitude towards his game.

“[I had] one amazing experience when I used to be in the Indian team,” Samson, who has so far hit a 32-all 74 and a 42-ball 85, said in a press interplay. “I used to be in the gym training with Virat bhai. I retain asking him why he puts such a lot energy into fitness, I retain asking him numerous different questions. Then he asked me, ‘Sanju how many years you will be playing?’ And I said, ‘I’m 25 now so for ten years or so.’ He told me, ‘Then give everything to these ten years and you’ll be able to have your favourite food from Kerala after that, but you will be unable to play cricket after these ten years so why don’t you give whatever you have in these ten years?’

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“That changed the perspective of my dedication to cricket. I used to be truly happy to hear that from him.”

Samson’s first India call-up came in 2015, but he fell off the national radar soon after. He was once on the fringes of national selection due to this fact, and earned a recall after a hole of almost five years for the T20Is against Sri Lanka and New Zealand earlier this year. But he made single-digit scores in the three chances he got.

“I never think of playing like MS Dhoni. What I love to be is like myself, understand what is Sanju Samson”

“Is also, possibly not, I am not certain,” Samson said of his India prospects after the newest round of good IPL scores. “The only object I realize is that I’m in good form and I’m winning matches for my team and that’s the reason what I’m preparing for right through my career.

“Only dream is to win matches for any team I play for. I think that is what is going on at this time. I think I will have to retain my focus on the IPL at this time.”

The range of Samson’s hitting has drawn compliment from many quarters, and together with that some have likened his ability to lucid the boundary at will to that of MS Dhoni.

“No one can play like him and no one will have to try to play like him,” Samson said of the comparison. “It is not at all easy to play like MS Dhoni, or think to play like MS Dhoni, so we want to leave that aside. He is probably the most best finishers to play this wonderful game.

“I never think of playing like MS Dhoni. What I love to be is like myself, understand what is Sanju Samson.”


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