EXCLUSIVE: You have to score runs in today’s match… Who advised Sanju? What was Gambhir’s reaction… read the full interview


EXCLUSIVE: Sanju Samson recently scored a brilliant century against Bangladesh. He scored this century after flopping in two consecutive innings. This century of Sanju was special because if he had not performed well in the third match, he might not have got a chance in the next series. We did a special interview with Sanju Samson. In which many questions related to him were asked. Sanju also told about his relationship with Gautam Gambhir and family.

Question: The century you scored a few days ago in Hyderabad can be called the turning point of your career. So let’s start from there. Tell us what was the feeling of the entire team at that time when you did 100, how everyone was enjoying a lot. Especially the reaction of coach Gautam Gambhir who looked very happy.

Sanju Samson: Yes, exactly as you said, I think, first of all, a player’s relationship with his coach is a very important relationship, then when the coach trusts you and selects you for the team. So it seems that brother has to perform and show it to the coach. They have to be told that the trust you showed in me, I also showed it back to you by performing. I was wishing from my heart that I was getting the chances that Gauti Bhai was backing me. So I also have to make them happy by performing well again. After not scoring in the two matches before the Hyderabad match, I was a little hesitant to watch his side that, yaar nahi yaar aayega time aayega to you will do well, very happy and very fun when he hit a century and Gauti bhai They were clapping from there, it felt very good for me.

Question: You said that my time will come, my time will come is a famous dialogue. Where did Sanju Samson get this confidence because when you made your debut very young, at the age of 19-20, you played your first match for India in Zimbabwe. Then there was a gap of about 5 years, even after that there was up and down, so where did the confidence come from that our time would come.

Sanju Samson: Yes, exactly as it has been almost 10 years for me. Regarding my debut, I think everyone’s career is very different. Everyone gets everything easily in their very childhood. Some people get a lot of time. Some people don’t get it, there are a lot of people who dream to play for India and work so hard and score so many runs but they don’t get a chance to play for India, so I have been very lucky since childhood that I was 19 years old. I debuted in the team at the age of 20. When I was in the team, I came in the year 2019, so after that I have been on and off but I have always been like this. That friend Sanju, everyone’s life, everyone’s journey, everyone’s career is different. Tera is sai is side hoga like you are. Wing your own way of this career. Whatever I had, I was always grateful. I used to look at the positive and the negative, definitely more in career than in life. But I always focus on the good things that are in my hands. Good things are happening in my life. Getting ahead in career. So I always kept it positive and in my mind I was like, no, Sanju, you are definitely going to make it, but when and how, no one knows, so I am happy that finally I played a really good innings for my country, so ya. Looks very good.

Question: So Sanju, tell me one thing, like you were in Sri Lanka, you were sent in a new role, that is, what could be a bigger disaster than starting a duck, at that time even the most positive people would have been shaken, because there is so much competition in the Indian team. You also said that there was pressure on you too in the sense that your last innings in Hyderabad was the biggest innings in terms of the amount of attachment there was. It’s not 100 out, but even if it wasn’t 100, you still felt that it was a make or break kind of innings stage.

Sanju Samson: Yes, just like I admitted, there is like pressure. Man, you definitely think about your past, what happened in Sri Lanka, what is going to happen in the future. It is very normal as a person to think what will happen if it does not go well, so these thoughts come inside me. Like I said, with so many years of experience, sometimes you get lost in that thought, sometimes you get carried away by that thought, you think the same thing even while batting, you live under pressure, so I have experience. And I interact with so many people like I ask many people how they handle pressure. What happens? Pressure, what to do when pressure comes, I have learned many things, so when pressure came, I knew that yes, pressure is coming. That, I am feeling so scared. What will happen if this performance is not performed then what will happen next? Just like two innings went in vain in Sri Lanka, two innings were played well here too but not so well, then another one also goes like this. Then what will happen next, all those thoughts were coming to my mind but on the other hand I was also thinking like this, Sanju, this is normal, all human beings must be having such thoughts and you too are having such thoughts. Die, think about what is in your hands.. what is under your control. You have your games. You know. If you are set then what a good contribution you can make to the team. What are its up sides? This down side makes you wonder what could be negative. But what can be positive? If you think this too, I was also thinking that Sanju has given the bat in your hand. You are such a good talent. You play such good shots. If you make a really good score for the team and there are a lot of great things which can also be done, that’s what I was saying to myself, you keep talking to yourself, right? As that gap remains. There is a gap of two days between each match. So he practices there. Training takes place. But basically players all think about the match. Man, this is what happened in the last match Sanju, how will it be in the next match, how will it happen, then after a point of time, so many years of experience will tell you that those thoughts do come. Accept that and whatever is in your hands. Beyond that, pay attention like practice well, keep good mental space, be good with the team, keep talking with friends, so I focused on small things and then I was in the present and I went and enjoyed in the last. .

Question: Saw you and Surya who are the captains in Delhi before the match before Hyderabad. You did not bat that day in Delhi Nets, you guys were spending time for a long time, laughing and joking and discussing what kind of rapport you have with Surya. What does it mean? Sometimes you people think. That your journey has been similar in many ways. Up and Down Too much expectation IPL gave a different kind of platform to both of you Do you identify with Surya Career?

sanju samson: Surya and I have played together a lot in our childhood. Like we have played junior category and we both work for BPCL, so we have played many matches for BPCL in our childhood, so before playing India we have spent a lot of time, so already there is a connection, there is also a friendship there. There is also a lot of time. And spend together inside the ground that they know. I know my game, I know his game and Surya’s career and I also know how Surya Kumar Yadav became Surya Kumar Yadav, the struggle behind it. There are a lot of friends. I have also seen the scene that I am with him. Surya has worked so hard to reach here. So there is a great connect, a great respect, a mutual respect among each other and then of course I think one becomes a leader of Indian cricket team and I think that respect increases a little more. That friend is leading your country. Surya Kumar Yadav And then definitely there is a friendship but there is also respect which is very mutual and like I was talking in the Delhi nets, just talk, I stay in the Indian team but I stay for a week, 10 days and then leave. There is never a chance where you interact with your colleagues in a normal way like us. There is to be a time where you exchange your ideas like you are talking. Ask friends that this is how I play, how do you play? How do you think? How did you become so successful in this format? What was your thinking pattern? I have known Surya for so many years but I did not get a chance to go and ask him, why are you doing so well? That you are the best in the world in this format, how did you reach there so that time in Delhi, as you saw, I went there and asked him Surya like what are the things which are working for you, how Did that flip? Like we knew he was going through a lot of struggles and suddenly from last three four years he is the best in the business so there might be something great he is doing so I just wanted to know from him what. What is that one factor? Surya, what can you tell me about what is going on? He was also very transparent like normally, he also shared a lot of ideas, he told a lot of his ups and downs, when I went down, how did he help me, what do I see these days, what is my mindset. What is my mindset in life for cricket? So that interaction was the first time I got such an opportunity in the Indian cricket dressing room that I was sharing such an idea with someone, so I think that was a really great moment between both of us. There was also a good sharing there. I also told my belief. That friend, how have I come, what am I thinking, what do I need to do. In this team, there is that, then there is that inside the ground, then the next match after Delhi, then we end.

Question: He was the happiest when you felt like you were 100. It felt like 100 were yours and it was theirs because of who they were and the way they hugged you.

Sanju Samson: Of course it was a very special partnership, we played for an hour and a half, it was a lot of fun. After batting with Surya and the way he celebrated my 100, I thought, man, what a thing. He genuinely feels very happy for me. Actually so I think what a quality of a leader there is that brother yes the guy is wanting people to do well he is wanting me to come up he is wanting my success as bad as he wants him too.

Question: So now we are like parents. Papa, especially the one who sacrificed so much, was in Delhi, speaks about government job in India. Brother was in Delhi Police, leaving him he said, let’s go son, pack the bed, left Delhi and came to Kerala, he had faith in cricket. Brother, the family has done so much, now everyone feels that after seeing all the things, walking on this stage was worth it. What do those people say now?

sanju samson: Absolutely, without father and mother, this career and this life would have been impossible. Now I was about to practice in Kotla, before that I got a call from father, I was out in the first innings and was about to play the second innings. Son, let me tell you a story. I said yes, tell me, earlier we used to live in cutters, in Delhi we used to live in Kingsway Camp, in GTB Nagar, so there I used to play street cricket like everyone else. I also started in the same way, my father was a footballer, so my father, being a footballer, was teaching me cricket, so he was teaching me cricket, there was a road like this, here was our house, there was a road in the middle of it, we used to play cricket on it, so I used to play cricket on the road. Once I got out, I got bowled, Papa said, how did you get bowled, son? I said, Papa, that pothole is on the road, the ball hit a pothole and went down and I got bowled, so I looked at it, it’s fine. Left me, I was coming from school the next day, I was studying in Rosary School, he had come back from school and had to climb home like this from the road. So papa is doing some work on the road. What is happening? Brother, father saw that where there was a pit, father was sitting and applying cement with his hands and there were some such stones etc. placed there. And the vehicles that are coming. Told him, go from the side, go from the side, go from the side, then the father said, Son, now there is no pit. So he was saying that his friends had come while doing such work, then when his friend gave so much and is working so hard for his children, he said, Samson, this will not be possible, the dream you are thinking. I don’t think this is possible. Where are you, where are you and how will you be able to help your son in Indian cricket, tell me, you will not be able to do this, this is what his friends were saying to him while working, all this is useless. Don’t do all this, let them concentrate on some other work, Indian cricket is impossible. For you, father gave him a simple dialogue, you see, after a few years, you are not in your hands. Didn’t see? After a few years, I saw that I had just reached the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Ferozeshah Kotla for the Indian cricket team and my father told me this story, Son, you have just reached here. What I thought that day is happening now. And keep this in mind that you have to score runs in today’s match.

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