'He Has Kickstarted His Int'l Career' - Gambhir On Samson's Special Century vs SA
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Sanju Samson made 108 off 114 balls (Twitter)
Sanju Samson's truly spectacular maiden One-Day International ton for India in the series decider against South Africa on Thursday (December 21) augurs an opportunity for the elegant right-hander to make a fresh beginning to his career for India, feels Gautam Gambhir.
The former India opener believes Samson could be using his memorable first century for the country in a historic 2-1 series triumph as a springboard to finally achieve the level of success everyone has been deemed him fit for all these years.
After being around the set-up for eight long years since making his debut for India in 2015 with a T20I against Zimbabwe, the Kerala batter finally reached the three-figure mark to give what was a difficult year for him an happy ending.
Dropped from T20Is and ODIs for the best part of the last four months, Samson earned a critical chance for the series against the Proteas with an alternate squad under KL Rahul's captaincy and ended up reviving his fortunes with an expert knock of 108 off 114 balls.
Gambhir Hails Samson After Maiden India Ton
After walking in at No.3 on a tricky surface in the first half, Samson relished the opportunity up the order and brought his class and ability to the fore in almost singlehandedly pushing India to a match-winning total of 296/8 in 50 overs.
"We all know how much talent Sanju Samson has. Not only us, everyone has spoken about it, the sort of knocks he has played in the IPL or T20 cricket. I believe he has kickstarted his international career with this knock," Gambhir told Star Sports.
"He used to get intermittent chances before this but when you score a hundred, you push the selectors and put pressure on them to give you regular chances in ODI cricket."
It was a champagne moment for the 29-year-old's supporters, who have always criticised the selectors for not providing him regular chances to unlock his potential at the international stage. One of them, Gambhir felt jubilant to see his favourite cricketer struck the code.
"It needs to be seen whether they will persist with Sanju Samson in ODI cricket because the next World Cup is after four years. However, the quality of player Sanju is, I believe he should definitely be persisted with."
"The way he keeps as well, you have an excellent option in the middle order. You will always have a heavy top order but Sanju gives you a middle-order option plus wicketkeeping. So I feel his international career has started again after this knock," Gambhir added.
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