Sanju Samson was India's locked-in opener until he wasn't, and then ended up as Player of the Tournament at a T20 World Cup. How did we get here?
“... From Latin praestigium ‘delusion, illusion’.”
The word “prestige” traces its etymology to the 1600s, when its original meaning in Old French and Latin was “trick, illusion or imposture.”
How it evolved to the more common meaning of today is another story. But this origin is behind the use of the term in magic, and a famous explanation of sleight-of-hand tricks first penned down by Christopher Priest in The Prestige and popularised by Christopher Nolan’s film of the same name.
Act I: The Pledge
“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called ‘The Pledge’. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't.”
Sanju Samson is introduced to the Indian team in 2015. And re-introduced in 2020 – literally. Only one player remains from the squad he first toured with. He averages 18.7 and strikes at 133 in T20Is before he is picked for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He warms the bench as India win the tournament.
Post-World Cup, India’s coach and captain change. Rohit Sharma retires, and Samson is re-re-introduced, with an actual pledge.
“Only if you score 21 ducks, I will drop you from the team,” Gautam Gambhir tells him when he begins to worry about his form after two low scores.
Sanju Samson, the opener, begins to find his groove. In the space of 34 days in 2024, he hits three centuries; one against Bangladesh and two against South Africa. In doing so, he does what no one else has managed across an entire calendar year.
He has four ducks by now, seventeen still in the bank. For all the highs, the lows do exist, but there is safety and normalcy. He is India’s new T20 opener, seemingly here to stay.
Act II: The Turn
“The second act is called ‘The Turn’. The magician takes the ordinary something, and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet.”
At the Asia Cup, India decide Shubman Gill is the man they want to open the innings. Abhishek Sharma, the left-handed, deluxe version of Samson, cannot make way after his superb run at the top of the order. Sanju must be sacrificed.
At first, you see nothing all that special in the trick. Samson moves down to No.3 and then No.5. He gets 56, 13, 39, 24 and 2 in the Asia Cup and Australia tour. But it starts to feel like he is waning.
Then, Sanju Samson disappears.
He sits out of India’s T20Is against South Africa, getting only a token appearance in the fifth and final game. It now starts to feel extraordinary. The external pressure mounts on a team management that tinkered with his place for no apparent convincing reason, and now chettan seems on the outs.
There is a lifeline when Gill’s own subpar returns get him axed. Samson is in for the World Cup, but is as good as a ghost in the New Zealand series beforehand. He makes 46 runs in five games, R Ashwin says he looks “really low on confidence”, and Ishan Kishan’s blistering form eventually puts the kibosh on his run in the side.
For the second World Cup in a row, Samson is in the squad, but not the XI. Between the two, he has lived decades in months: “I was broke[n], I was completely out of my mind, I was like, ‘Okay, my dreams have shattered.’ What else can I do?", he says.
He gets a game against Namibia only because Abhishek is unwell. Samson plays three dots before going 6, 6, 6, 4 and out. 22 off eight, credible but not enough to earn his place back.
Act III: The Prestige
“Making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call ‘The Prestige’.”
India win four out of four games before they come crashing back to earth against South Africa. The loss prompts a re-jig of their batting order, comprising the all-left-handed top three of Abhishek, Kishan and Tilak Varma. India's tendency to lose wickets to off-spinners is thought to be the reason, which Gambhir stoutly denies later, insisting it was a tactical call.
Samson returns to the top, with Tilak moving down the order and Rinku Singh going out of the side. He makes 24 off 15 against Zimbabwe, a knock on the slower side in a team total of 256.
The ordinary something vanished, and now teases a return. The audience waits with bated breath.
And then, it explodes into life.
A clinic of down-the-ground hitting takes Samson to 97 not out, and India over the line chasing 196 in a virtual quarterfinal against West Indies. It is the second-highest score by an Indian in tournament history; striking at almost 200, his control rate is close to 90 per cent.
England are up next in the semi-final. Samson has struggled against their star quick Jofra Archer before; the matchup reads 25-3 off 23 balls coming into the game. If Harry Brook holds onto a regulation catch, that becomes 40-4 off 30 balls. For once, luck is on Samson’s side.
He carts Archer for four sixes – over point, fine leg, long off and midwicket – to take 38 runs off the 14 deliveries he faces. He finishes on 89 off 42, putting India on course for the 250 in mind since the end of the Powerplay.
He wins the Player of the Match award in a slightly dubious call; for once, luck is on Samson’s side. By now, he is the toast of India. But he isn't fully at peace; it is only after “one more match, then I’ll feel very light.”
On the day of the final, Samson makes it feel like he has played the same continuous innings for the past week. He gets startlingly similar returns; a second 89 in a row, with a control rate of nearly 83 per cent. India make 253, and put the game well out of New Zealand’s reach.
His five innings at the tournament yield 24 sixes, a record in a single edition. He goes past Virat Kohli for the most runs scored by an Indian at a T20 World Cup, and three of India’s top six scores in tournament history are now his, the scores he made in three must-win games.
Sanju Samson was presented before you and whisked away just as quickly. It is only the return that satisfies you, the final act of the trick that makes the rest of it make sense. It also makes you want to ask who or what the driving force behind all this was. To claim this entire arc was intentional on anyone's part is perhaps stretching reality. Whatever it was, it has led to a magical return.
And now, you applaud.
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