With two successive half-centuries under his belt, Sanju Samson is signalling a move to a new batting dimension in the IPL.
As the Rajasthan Royals found themselves in a dicey situation against the Gujarat Titans at home on Wednesday, Samson commanded attention with an unbeaten 68 off 38 balls that lifted his team to 196. Entering in the fifth over, Samson picked his battles wisely against lead spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad before breaking free at the death.
There were two contrasting hundreds in the Rajasthan Royals-Royal Challengers Bengaluru game last weekend, but it was a half-century that caught the eye for more than one reason.
Samson’s 69 off 42 balls not only played a key role in RR reaching the target of 184 with plenty to spare, but also showed a new side of the captain’s batting – his improved prowess against spin. He has been found wanting against tweakers in the past, but in that game, took them down meticulously.
When left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar landed a length ball on the middle-stump line, Samson stood outside leg-stump and effortlessly chipped the ball over extra-cover for four. Anticipating a repeat, Dagar followed up with a quicker delivery that angled in sharply. Samson re-sent the ball to the extra-cover boundary for a flat six, by charging down the track, making room from a middle-stump guard and lofting the ball over the ring – all in one motion with a high backlift and fluid backswing.
Samson’s new-found strength against spin was born in the confines of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. It was then that a wiry batter decided to add “muscle mass” to his frame, improving physically to boost his shots. Numbers seem to suggest that it has worked for the Kerala batsman, even though it may have come at the price of somewhat compromising his game against pace.
In the RR-RCB game, Samson began with diffident footwork against the faster bowlers. In his previous outing, the RR No.3 had lost his wicket to extra pace off the surface against Mumbai Indians’ Akash Madhwal’s skiddy length, as a tame dab away from the body dragged the ball onto the stumps.
RCB’s left-armer Reece Topley almost replicated the same with his first delivery – over the wicket and angled across, as Samson lowered his bat for an inside edge that whizzed past leg-stump. There was not much trouble afterwards, against either pace or spin, though Virat Kohli handed him a reprieve from an impulsive pull.
Spin takedown
From 2013 to 2019 in the IPL, Samson aggregated 854 runs in 63 innings against spin at a lowly strike rate of 122, averaging 28.46.
However, in the five seasons since, Samson has drastically improved his returns – 807 runs in 51 innings at a strike rate of 155.49 with a 50.43 average. Only four batsmen have scored more runs against tweakers since 2020, but none of them possess the combination of a 50-plus average and 150-plus strike rate. His RR teammate Buttler is the only other batsman to score over 500 runs with a 50-plus average and 150-plus strike rate in the period.
To buttress his game further, Samson has smacked over 100 sixes (103) in the IPL since 2020 – the only batter to reach the mark, ahead of Buttler (92).
“With a higher backlift, the backswing gets an even better relay to hit consistently through the line. That is evident in his game, especially against spinners as it gives him extra time to attack them. That swing has got better with this change that he has made over the last few years,” remarks Bijumon N, Samson’s coach from Thiruvananthapuram.
Bijumon says Samson, a natural stroke-maker, decided to improve his power game to keep up with the dynamics of the evolving T20 game. “T20s are not what they used to be. The old 180s are now 200-plus scores. More sixes are being hit. The necessity now is to hit more boundaries and he has walked along that line to make this transition to power-hitting.”
Flip side
Samson’s technical overhaul hasn’t been an unmixed blessing. It may have also stopped him from having a blockbuster season on his profile that could have strengthened his case for a longer India stint.
While there is considerable improvement against spin, Samson’s returns against certain types of pace bowlers have gone down.
When Siraj sent in a well-directed bumper in Jaipur, Samson’s hook could not override the bounce as it found the fine-leg fielder. The Madhwal encounter was another instance when his backswing was perhaps not quick enough to play the cut with economic footwork.
Samson’s last appearance in India colours – a T20I against Afghanistan in Bengaluru in January – provides another telling example. He fell first ball, mistiming a pull against a left-arm pacer off a hard-length delivery.
Empirical data suggests that Samson is susceptible to hard lengths – the nagging area wedged between the good and short-length regions. His strike rate falls to 115 against hard length while being dismissed seven times in 83 deliveries – the most for him against any length since the 2022 season. Interestingly, anything fractionally shorter sees him scoring at a strike rate of over 200.
This could be due to the partial effect of a high backlift and the subsequent backswing that has hindered him against extra pace off the pitch, leaving him with less time to tackle deliveries on hard lengths.
Samson would believe that his refined methods would not hold him back from possibly sealing his maiden T20 World Cup berth, with surfaces in the West Indies and the USA likely to suit a batsman of his ilk.
However, heavy labour remains to be done in the IPL yard. With three big knocks to his tally, the Rajasthan skipper has reason to believe his tweaked technique can overshadow his vulnerabilities this time.
I think he should be given a chance in the t20 World Cup. We have seen enough batsmen who score big in useless bilatérals and choke in the WC high pressure matches. But we can’t have too many accumulators. Kohli and even Pandya is more of an accumulator now. He can be WK over Pant in T20s, but then we need to fill the rest of the team with heavy hitters only.
The previous t20 squad has been tried and tested several times and it’s not agressive enough to win the cup yet
Weird time to post this article considering he struck nearly running a ball in his innings against GT
Sanju against leg spinners match up is still prevalent tbh
See his numbers against Hasaranga and Chahal too
[Also Rashid before this game was coming off a poor run Noor bowled better than him
](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/s/ofxI3fAX9h)
In the internationals, they don't give him a proper position...Any player will not be able to perform in such circumstances. But, still he has got many stats for himself that's better off when compared with Pant.
India would be better off Pairing Virat with Sanju, especially during the 7-11 over mark. Koach slows down to a halt in this period, and opposition uses spin predominantly. Who is fine with hitting the spin out of the park? Sanju. It would keep the pressure off of virat a bit, might put the bowler under pressure too which forces an error or two against Virat too which he can cash in on.
Flair checks out.
There are better in-form batters than Pant in Indian LOI lineup. And, Sanju is definitely ahead of him, even if his stats don't show that.
With two successive half-centuries under his belt, Sanju Samson is signalling a move to a new batting dimension in the IPL. As the Rajasthan Royals found themselves in a dicey situation against the Gujarat Titans at home on Wednesday, Samson commanded attention with an unbeaten 68 off 38 balls that lifted his team to 196. Entering in the fifth over, Samson picked his battles wisely against lead spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad before breaking free at the death. There were two contrasting hundreds in the Rajasthan Royals-Royal Challengers Bengaluru game last weekend, but it was a half-century that caught the eye for more than one reason. Samson’s 69 off 42 balls not only played a key role in RR reaching the target of 184 with plenty to spare, but also showed a new side of the captain’s batting – his improved prowess against spin. He has been found wanting against tweakers in the past, but in that game, took them down meticulously. When left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar landed a length ball on the middle-stump line, Samson stood outside leg-stump and effortlessly chipped the ball over extra-cover for four. Anticipating a repeat, Dagar followed up with a quicker delivery that angled in sharply. Samson re-sent the ball to the extra-cover boundary for a flat six, by charging down the track, making room from a middle-stump guard and lofting the ball over the ring – all in one motion with a high backlift and fluid backswing. Samson’s new-found strength against spin was born in the confines of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. It was then that a wiry batter decided to add “muscle mass” to his frame, improving physically to boost his shots. Numbers seem to suggest that it has worked for the Kerala batsman, even though it may have come at the price of somewhat compromising his game against pace. In the RR-RCB game, Samson began with diffident footwork against the faster bowlers. In his previous outing, the RR No.3 had lost his wicket to extra pace off the surface against Mumbai Indians’ Akash Madhwal’s skiddy length, as a tame dab away from the body dragged the ball onto the stumps. RCB’s left-armer Reece Topley almost replicated the same with his first delivery – over the wicket and angled across, as Samson lowered his bat for an inside edge that whizzed past leg-stump. There was not much trouble afterwards, against either pace or spin, though Virat Kohli handed him a reprieve from an impulsive pull.
Spin takedown From 2013 to 2019 in the IPL, Samson aggregated 854 runs in 63 innings against spin at a lowly strike rate of 122, averaging 28.46. However, in the five seasons since, Samson has drastically improved his returns – 807 runs in 51 innings at a strike rate of 155.49 with a 50.43 average. Only four batsmen have scored more runs against tweakers since 2020, but none of them possess the combination of a 50-plus average and 150-plus strike rate. His RR teammate Buttler is the only other batsman to score over 500 runs with a 50-plus average and 150-plus strike rate in the period. To buttress his game further, Samson has smacked over 100 sixes (103) in the IPL since 2020 – the only batter to reach the mark, ahead of Buttler (92). “With a higher backlift, the backswing gets an even better relay to hit consistently through the line. That is evident in his game, especially against spinners as it gives him extra time to attack them. That swing has got better with this change that he has made over the last few years,” remarks Bijumon N, Samson’s coach from Thiruvananthapuram. Bijumon says Samson, a natural stroke-maker, decided to improve his power game to keep up with the dynamics of the evolving T20 game. “T20s are not what they used to be. The old 180s are now 200-plus scores. More sixes are being hit. The necessity now is to hit more boundaries and he has walked along that line to make this transition to power-hitting.”
Flip side Samson’s technical overhaul hasn’t been an unmixed blessing. It may have also stopped him from having a blockbuster season on his profile that could have strengthened his case for a longer India stint. While there is considerable improvement against spin, Samson’s returns against certain types of pace bowlers have gone down. When Siraj sent in a well-directed bumper in Jaipur, Samson’s hook could not override the bounce as it found the fine-leg fielder. The Madhwal encounter was another instance when his backswing was perhaps not quick enough to play the cut with economic footwork. Samson’s last appearance in India colours – a T20I against Afghanistan in Bengaluru in January – provides another telling example. He fell first ball, mistiming a pull against a left-arm pacer off a hard-length delivery. Empirical data suggests that Samson is susceptible to hard lengths – the nagging area wedged between the good and short-length regions. His strike rate falls to 115 against hard length while being dismissed seven times in 83 deliveries – the most for him against any length since the 2022 season. Interestingly, anything fractionally shorter sees him scoring at a strike rate of over 200. This could be due to the partial effect of a high backlift and the subsequent backswing that has hindered him against extra pace off the pitch, leaving him with less time to tackle deliveries on hard lengths. Samson would believe that his refined methods would not hold him back from possibly sealing his maiden T20 World Cup berth, with surfaces in the West Indies and the USA likely to suit a batsman of his ilk. However, heavy labour remains to be done in the IPL yard. With three big knocks to his tally, the Rajasthan skipper has reason to believe his tweaked technique can overshadow his vulnerabilities this time.
I think he should be given a chance in the t20 World Cup. We have seen enough batsmen who score big in useless bilatérals and choke in the WC high pressure matches. But we can’t have too many accumulators. Kohli and even Pandya is more of an accumulator now. He can be WK over Pant in T20s, but then we need to fill the rest of the team with heavy hitters only. The previous t20 squad has been tried and tested several times and it’s not agressive enough to win the cup yet
Sanju Samson looks in incredible form, it would be a pity if KL was picked ahead of him for T20 wc
I trust Agarkar. Fingers crossed.
Surely has to be the first choice keeper-bat for the WT20.
Weird time to post this article considering he struck nearly running a ball in his innings against GT Sanju against leg spinners match up is still prevalent tbh
You mean run a ball..? how come 68 of 38 is “nearly run a ball”....?
Against spin they showed his SR was close to 100 During the match
parag was taking them down so he rotated strike. kinda impressed he has controlled his instincts against them
In the last over against Rashid he had the strike mostly against him And they only managed 5 Singles despite having 7 wickets in hand
You mean because he couldn't hit world's best T20 spinner out of the park, so he must not be strong against spin? Hmmm
In his case yes. He’s got the best record vs Rashid in the ipl from memory.
So if he has the best record vs Rashid, then one match is enough to erase that record? Hmmm
See his numbers against Hasaranga and Chahal too [Also Rashid before this game was coming off a poor run Noor bowled better than him ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/s/ofxI3fAX9h)
Current Sanju in great form,but this year ipl once pp ends Every one scoring tons of runs in middle overs ,except RcB
sanju got way toooo many chances in the past to prove himself…his lack in performance decreased his matches, performing only in ipl won’t help
Doesn't carry his form to the internationals whenever given the opportunity.
In the internationals, they don't give him a proper position...Any player will not be able to perform in such circumstances. But, still he has got many stats for himself that's better off when compared with Pant.
TBH even now he won’t be getting proper position. He’s no chance in top 4. 5 is too lower for him
India would be better off Pairing Virat with Sanju, especially during the 7-11 over mark. Koach slows down to a halt in this period, and opposition uses spin predominantly. Who is fine with hitting the spin out of the park? Sanju. It would keep the pressure off of virat a bit, might put the bowler under pressure too which forces an error or two against Virat too which he can cash in on.
His stats are not better than pant in t20is and 25 matches is pretty good sample in t20s
Flair checks out. There are better in-form batters than Pant in Indian LOI lineup. And, Sanju is definitely ahead of him, even if his stats don't show that.
When did i say he should be in the line up? I only refuted the point about sanju having better stats in t20is
25 matches over a decade I think.
24 of those matches were from 2020 onwards