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Kerala-born wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has been one of the most exciting talents in the last decade. Despite his exploits with the bat and behind the wicket, he has not been able to cement his place in the national side. He has been inconsistent with the bat which has cost him his place in the Indian team. Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper reveals that a player for Kerala needs to do something special to make it into the senior side.
Sanju confessed that he has to evolve as a batter to be consistent in the Indian team he has many competitors for the same spot in the national team.
“When you are playing cricket for the world’s number one team, you need consistency. A big pool of players is eyeing to play for the Indian team. A guy from Kerala has to do something special to cement his place in the Indian team because of the number of players and competitions,” Samson told Star Sports on their show.
“I always wanted to outperform others by hitting a six on the first ball I faced. I wanted to do something different. Why do we have to wait for 10 balls before hitting a six. This thought process developed my power-hitting”, the 29-year-old added.
Samson made his international debut in 2015 against Zimbabwe. Since then, he has only managed to appear in 16 ODIs and 25 T20Is for the national side. He has played 152 IPL matches and scored 3,888 runs. He was appointed as the captain of RR in IPL 2021. In the previous season, he scored 362 runs at a strike rate of 153.39.
Sanju said “I am never satisfied”
The 29-year-old wicketkeeper-batter further talked about his hard work, performance, and desire to do something spectacular for his team.
“I have been working hard for a long time and the results are positive. I want to do something spectacular for the side I play for. I am never satisfied,” Samson concluded.
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Wicketkeeper for T20 World Cup 2024
Samson, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Jitesh Sharma, and Dhruv Jurel are the contenders for the wicketkeeper spot in the T20 World Cup 2024 squad. A lot will depend on their performances in IPL 2024.
It will be interesting to see if KL Rahul keeps wickets for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2024. Rahul has been instructed not to keep wickets for the first few games.
Rahul was the wicketkeeper-batter in ODI World Cup 2023 and Kishan was the second wicketkeeper in the squad. The LSG captain has not played a T20I game since India’s T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal exit.
During the T20I series against Afghanistan, Samson and Jitesh were the two wicketkeepers as Kishan was on a break.
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