Sanju Samson will never become the cricketer he promises

With a first-class average of 37, a list A average of just 30, one should consider himself lucky to be called gifted with such mediocre stats in a cricketing nation like India. In India, historically batsmen have set punched above their weight, and time and time have proven why India is said to be a hub for producing legendary batsmen. And then comes Sanju Samson. A solitary list-A hundred in 95 matches show something is wrong for a player considered as a batsman. In Samson's last 5 List-A games, he has made scores of 24, 3, 61, 29, and 4, decent for a wicket-keeper, but bad for a batsman who promised a lot.

His T20 numbers are relatively better but he is very inconsistent to make matters worst. This season's IPL, Samson started with a swashbuckling century and then faded away in the following innings. Similar things happened in last season's IPL. And not only stats, but the way he bats shows he lacks what it requires to become a great batsman. One day he has the best shots in his book and the next day, he forgets batting.

For years, he has complained about a place in the national team, but with the plethora of talent pool India has, a mediocre performance can't even secure a position for the likes of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan who are two of the best batsmen the country has ever produced, then how can an someone who hasn't performed well expect a position in the team. For the past 2 years, the Indian team has gone through a drastic change in my opinion. Everybody who gets a debut plays with an intention to prove a point and pounce on their given position. The Indian team was never this lucky to have such a strong bench and in between them comes a certain Sanju Samson, who can't even perform consistently for his domestic and IPL side.

At times, it surprises me to think that Samson is just 26 because he's been there for a long. He burst onto the scene at a very young age and it seems that the hype never let him become the player he was supposed to become. Every time when a cricketer makes a solid debut in any form of the game in India, he is compared to every legend possible, and this probably becomes a reason for the downfall for many players. In a cricket-loving country like India, a talented player can never stay outside the reach of the hype creators and they need to start living with this truth or else, with the rise of the internet dominated world where privacy is a dream, we'll lose a number of Sanju Samsons in the coming years.