If I was affected by the noise, I wouldn’t play how I do: Samson

The past few months have proven to be a microcosm of Sanju Samson’s chequered international career. If his form at the business end of this year’s T20 World Cup — he won the Player-of-the-Tournament award with 321 runs in five innings — was a dazzling high, the tour of the United Kingdom just three months later was a debilitating low. After just two games against Ireland and one against England, which yielded returns of 5, 0 and 1, he made way for teen prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. While Samson came back for the fifth and final T20I against the Englishmen, he had already been omitted for the subsequent tour of Zimbabwe.

Samson’s topsy-turvy ride hasn’t halted. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday, the 31-year-old from Kerala was back to wielding his willow like a cutlass, scything the Afghanistan attack for a blistering 57 off 22 balls in a chase of 160. In the aftermath, Samson spoke with refreshing candour and endearing wit, and showed no resentment at recent developments.

“After a few failures, you definitely go through a lot as an Indian cricketer. It is not easy to face failures. But that is where my experience comes in. I try to shut out the noise and still try to keep scoring at a high strike rate,” the opener told reporters.

At a time when social media is all-pervasive, how does he stay immune to the outside noise?

“I try to switch off the wi-fi,” he chuckled. “But sometimes the wi-fi switches on and the comments of some former players crop up. It is their choice to say what they want to say. I have become mature and experienced enough to handle that. It does affect you. We are not robots. But I try to be clear. If I was affected by the noise, I wouldn’t be able to play the way I do. Before every attacking shot, I would be thinking 10 times.”