It can be frustrating being Sanju Samson, who debuted for India a decade ago, but has played just 65 matches for the national side in a little over 10 years. Inconsistency and the curse of being the backup keeper but not the first-choice has hurt Samson's chances of getting regular chances until last year when he got a longer run at the top of the order and he smashed three centuries in T20Is of all formats in five innings and since then hasn't looked back.
However, until his maiden century for India, nearly two years ago in the ODI series decider against South Africa, Samson, a proven player at the IPL level, didn't feel like he belonged at the highest level. It took 40 matches and 35 innings for Samson to bring up his maiden international century after a run of a chance here and two there but according to him, it not only put him on the selectors' radar but internally, it did a lot for him personally.
"I think that was getting my first international hundred in South Africa," Samson said on 'The SportsCast. “I was in and out of the side, playing a few games here and there. I knew deep down that I was good enough to play at the international level, the biggest stage cricket has ever seen. But until you prove it to people, you don’t get acceptance," he added.
"After that hundred, I don’t know what people were saying, but in my own head, I was totally convinced that, 'Yes, Sanju, you are made for this level.' That was the moment when a lot of things changed internally. It was a series decider, and I knew if I didn’t perform, I could be dropped. So when I scored that challenging hundred, I told myself, if you can do this, you are meant for something even bigger," he said further.
Samson mentioned that it was again a case of him getting dropped after the series if he hadn't performed in that third ODI, having scored just 12 runs in previous game. However, unfortunately, despite that ton, Samson is yet to play an ODI for the Indian team since then. There was a chance for him getting picked for the upcoming Australia series but chief selector Ajit Agarkar mentioned that the right-hander missed out to Dhruv Jurel, because they were looking at someone to fill in the role at No 5 and 6.
"It's more (because of) position. Sanju Samson bats at the top of the order, I think he batted at 3 when he got the hundred, if I am not wrong. Jurel usually bats lower down the order, KL [Rahul] bats there as well. You've seen how good a player Dhruv is, so if you are looking at spots, I don't think there's room at the top again," Agarkar had said responding to the question on the backup wicketkeeper last week.
Like it took him some time to solidify his position in the T20I side, it might take some more time for him to break into the ODI side.