Sanju Samson’s paradox: When brilliance exists, but runs don’t

Picture this. A game of T20 cricket is on. The pitch is a little tricky. No demons as such, but it is not the sort of surface where you can just hit through the line, and hit wherever and however you want to. Yet, there is one batter who makes it seem as if he is batting on a cement deck. Sideways movement does not bother him. The variable bounce is not a problem. Each ball pings off the middle of the bat, and as much as it may be a cliché, this batter is making batting look ridiculously easy.

Now picture another scenario. Run-scoring is not as tough as it sometimes is. High scores are being chased. The pitch is flat. Hitting through the line is the norm, and almost every batter has, in some capacity, enjoyed himself when spending time at the crease. There is one batter, though, who is looking completely out of sorts. Talent is not an issue. But somehow, it is not coming through. There is still hope that someday, everything will click and all the potential and promise will translate into performance, but that moment seems very, very far away.

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These circumstances, in isolation, look vastly different. Either explaining the plight of someone or shedding light on a cricketer’s genius. But look closely, and both of these situations, somehow, embody Sanju Samson and, by extension, his international career.

Samson failing to take chances in crunch situation

There is absolutely no doubting Samson’s ability. That precocious potential is part of what has made people tout him for success over the past decade. But there is also no escaping that Samson, averaging less than 25 after 48 T20I innings, is underwhelming. The strike rate is not shabby, but anyone who has ever watched Samson will testify that his average does not justify his talent.

In recent matches, those murmurs have only intensified. India, of course, did not make Samson’s life easier by trying to shoehorn Shubman Gill into a role Samson had seemingly made his own. But Samson has not covered himself in glory either, both when returning to the top of the order or when he was thrust into slightly unfamiliar middle-order confines at the Asia Cup.

In the ongoing series against New Zealand, where Samson has primarily opened, he has a highest score of 24. That came in the fourth T20I at Vishakhapatnam and while it was an improvement on his other returns (which was not a lot, by the way), it felt like a missed opportunity. Not just because Ishan Kishan, who has emerged as a proper contender for the sole wicket-keeper’s spot, was missing due to injury, and but also because India had lost Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav - both of who have starred in run-chases this series - early.

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Sanju Samson in the last 15 innings in T20is:

26 (20), 5 (7), 3 (6), 1 (3), 16 (7), 56 (45), 13 (17), 39 (23), 24 (21), 2 (4), 37 (22), 10 (7), 6 (5), 0 (1), 24 (15).

262 runs.
17.46 average.
129.06 strike rate. pic.twitter.com/ZkPck82YoF

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 28, 2026

There was a brief period at the start when it felt like things would fall into place for Samson. Off the first ball of the third over, Samson timed a drive sweetly, even if it was in the air and may have offered mid-off a chance on another evening. Samson followed that up with a trademark whip off the hips, but it was when he deposited Jacob Duffy into the stands over cow corner that the crowd began believing in a redemption act.

But as it so often happens with Samson, it frittered away. Mitchell Santner brought himself on to bowl, knowing Samson can be slightly hit-and-miss against left-arm spin. And the Indian wicket-keeper fell into the trap.

Santner tossed the ball up nicely on a fullish length on middle stump. The ball drifted in, as so many of Santner’s deliveries do, and then straightened a smidgen. Samson, who has developed a shuffle, which sees him go back and towards leg, rather than back and across, failed to cover the spin and ultimately played down the wrong line.

Also Read | Suryakumar says India playing batter short in defeat vs NZ was 'on purpose'

This trigger movement was evident against pace too, and there were occasions when the Kiwi seamers tucked him up. But a case could be made that this extra room Samson creates is also what enables him to score so freely when on song. It has its drawbacks, like almost every technique that exists in the sport, and sometimes they do get magnified, like during the home series against England early last year. As long as a batter can offset it and score runs, though, it does not matter. And that is precisely what Samson is struggling to do.

In an ideal world, Samson will have had time to tweak something - mentally, physically or technically. India, given how the rest of their batters are faring and considering the firepower they boast, also have the luxury of sticking by Samson, more so because his boom-or-bust style, especially when it comes off, will be enough to win games.

Samson risks losing his place in India T20 team

But this is also a sequence where India are heading into a home T20 World Cup. A World Cup where anything other than a triumph will be construed as failure. It is also a time when Kishan, in the wilderness for the past couple of years, has returned with increased vigour and has been belligerent and decisive - aspects that have gone amiss with Samson lately.

And that is why the lack of runs will sting. Because both India and Samson know that things can change in a trice. They often do with Samson. Although now, India will have to contend with the question of how long they can keep a batter in red-hot form out, just in the hope that the current holder of that wicket-keeping spot will ultimately deliver.

With Tilak Varma ruled out for the entirety of the series, there is a strong chance that Kishan and Samson will feature together again on Saturday, especially if Kishan recovers from the niggle that kept him out in Vishakhapatnam. And that, as things stand, may end up being a direct shootout. A game within a game to see who might actually warrant a starting spot alongside Abhishek at the top of the order.

Until then, millions of Indian fans will be playing out those hypothetical scenarios. Scenarios in which Samson is every bit the world-class batter and top-order marauder he can be. And perhaps should be.

But like yin and yang, one cannot exist without the other. To try and eke out every ounce of talent and performance from Samson, maybe these indifferent displays need to be swept under the rug and excused. And maybe they need to be lived out and lived through. All because Samson, through sheer talent and through his sumptuously sublime stroke-play, offers hope. Especially when the numbers do not quite back it up.

And that is what Samson and India, for now, will have to cling to. Even if these low scores are trotting up far too often and far too close to each other. Even when that potentially watershed turnaround moment, with each passing innings, seems to be slipping further and further away. And even when the clock is seemingly ticking by and threatening to run out.