Sanju Samson on five sixes over against Rishad Hossain: ‘I have been practicing and visualising it and I am very grateful it happened’

Samson’s new-found strength against spin was born in the confines of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020

Hyderabad: India's Sanju Samson plays a shot during the third and final T20 International cricket match between India and Bangladesh at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, in Hyderabad, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)

There was no bowler on Saturday who did not feel the wrath of Sanju Samson, who scored his first T20 international hundred. Among the Bangladesh bowling bunch leg-spinner Rishad Hossain felt the heat more compared to the others. In the 10th over of the innings Samson amassed five consecutive sixes of the bowler.

“From the last two years, I have been thinking I can hit six sixes in an over, said Samson after the the third T20I in Hyderabad. Accordingly, I have been working with my mentor, Raiphi Gomez, and telling myself that four-five sixes in an over are possible and I should do something like that.”

“I have been practising and visualising it and I am very grateful it happened today,” he said. Samson’s new-found strength against spin was born in the confines of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. 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.

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“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.”

Samson’s technical overhaul hasn’t been an unmixed blessing. Empirical data suggests that Samson is susceptible to hard lengths – the nagging area wedged between the good and short-length regions.

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