'I've achieved much more than I thought': Sanju Samson on being tagged 'unluckiest cricketer'

Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson was once again overlooked when India announced the squad for the ongoing T20I series against Australia last week, but Kerala cricketer believes that he has achieved more than he expected.

Samson, who was also not part of India’s ODI World Cup squad, last played for the Men in Blue in a T20I against Ireland in August this year.

“People call me the unluckiest cricketer, but where I’ve reached currently, it’s much more than what I thought I could,” Samson said during an interaction with talk show host Dhanya Varma.

Samson, who plays for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the IPL, finished the 2023 season with 362 runs from 14 matches at a strike rate of 153.39. RR went onto narrowly miss out on the playoffs, finishing fifth with 14 points.

Samson said that following the season, Rohit Sharma called him up and had encouraging words for him.

“Rohit Sharma was the first or second person who came to me and talked. He told me ‘hey Sanju, wassup. You performed well in the IPL, but hit too many sixes against Mumbai Indians. You bat really well’. I had great support from him,” added Samson.

The 29-year-old was India’s reserve wicketkeeper-batter for the 2023 Asia Cup, but failed to get a game. India had beaten Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final, chasing down a total of 51 with 10 wickets to spare, after Mohammed Siraj’s six-fer had rattled the Lankans to 50.

Samson has played 13 ODIs and 24 T20Is for India so far, having scored 390 runs and 374 runs in both formats respectively.