Sanju Needed a Break After NZ Series To Release Pressure: Gambhir

Kolkata: Sanju Samson is a man of unquestionable talent but his wretched run in the bilateral series against New Zealand forced the team management to give him a break to ease the mounting pressure ahead of T20 World Cup, head coach Gautam Gambhir said after the Kerala player took the hosts into the semi-finals with his epic knock.

Samson produced an unbeaten 97-run knock under pressure, anchoring a tricky 196-run chase against the West Indies on Sunday night.

"Obviously, he had a tough series against New Zealand. So sometimes it's important to give him (Samson) a break as well, because you want to get the guy off that pressure situation as well," head coach Gambhir replied to a query from PTI at the post-match press conference.

After being sent down the order in the Asia Cup which disturbed his rhythm, Samson got a full series against New Zealand but poor sequence of scores --- 10, 6,0, 24, 6 -- led to critics writing his epitaph.

Samson didn't start against the USA in India's tournament-opener but Abhishek Sharma's ill-health brought him back for the Namibia game before being dropped again. A tragedy with Rinku Singh (death of his father) and in their bid to break the monotony of way too many left-handers at the top-order, prompted the team management to bring the opener back.

So what kind of conversations did the coach have with Samson to keep him in right frame of mind as it becomes difficult for a player if he is consistently in an out of the squad?

"I have conversations with everyone and the most important thing is the guys who are part of this squad, are world class players and that's why they are representing the country. We always knew the talent that Sanju had. Three T20 hundreds, not many people have it, so we always knew that.

"And we always knew that whenever we need him in the World Cup game, he'll come and deliver for us."

Gambhir believes that seeds of his match-winning knock against the West Indies were sown during his quickfire 15-ball-24 against Zimbabwe in the previous game when he replaced Rinku.

"Against Zimbabwe, he delivered for us. We got a start that we wanted in the first three overs. And today, again, from where he left against Zimbabwe, he showcased his talent. And this is what we expect from Sanju to do more consistently."

The hallmark of Samson's innings was the pace at which he scored the runs. He went at a strike-rate of nearly 200 (194) yet it never looked as if he was going hammer and tongs. Even Gambhir agreed.

"I actually thought that he never accelerated the innings. It was just a very, very normal cricketing shots and I never saw any muscling the ball as well and that is the kind of talent he has."

Samson was seen hitting a lot of balls through the ground and ran some quick twos, something that is usually not associated with his format.

"When you know that you are in control of the game and feeling good, you start hitting the ball really well in the nets."

His critics have always panned him for consistency but Gambhir believes that this knock is the beginning of many more such knocks from Samson.

"I have always said that he is a world class player, he is a great talent and hopefully he can kick off from now and hopefully we can see a lot more innings like this from Sanju. It was all about backing him.

"Today was a day where he probably showed his true potential as well. And hopefully, this is a time for him to kick off and probably two more games to go, hopefully," the coach said, sounding upbeat.