Who is Sanju Samson

Date of Birth: November 11, 1994

 

Country: India

 

Role: Wicketkeeper batsman

 

Batting style: Right-handed batsman

 

Teams: India, Kolkata Knight Riders, India U19, Kerala, East Zone, South Zone, Rajasthan Royals, India A, Indians, India AT20, Delhi Capitals, Indian Board Presidents XI

 

Sanju Samson is Indian cricket, who represents Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He bats right-handed and recognized as one of best wicket keepers in India. He belongs to Kerala and made his first-class debut against Vidarbha at the age of 17. He is the youngest batsman to score 1,000 runs in the IPL and the youngest cricketer to captain a Ranji trophy side.

 

Domestic career

 

Samson made his debut for Kerala in Ranji Trophy on November 3, 2011, and was made captain of the side during the 2015-16 season. On October 12, 2019, he scored the fastest double century in List-A cricket during the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy match between Kerala and Goa. He scored unbeaten 212 runs from 129 balls.

 

IPL career

 

He was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders players' pool during the 2012 season but did not play a single match. In 2013, he was signed by Rajasthan Royals and made his debut after wicket-keeper Dishant Yagnik failed to recover from an injury. In the same IPL season, he won the best young player award. He was retained by Rajasthan Royals for the 2014 and 2015 season. In 2016, he was bagged by Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) for Rs 4.2 crore. He scored his maiden IPL century in IPL 2017 on April 11, 2017, against Rising Pune Supergiants at Maharastra Cricket Association, Pune. In IPL 2018 players auction, he was again bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 8 crore. In IPL 2019, he scored his second IPL century against Sunrisers Hyderabad, hitting an unbeaten 102 off 55 balls, including 10 fours and 4 sixes. In 93 matches, he has piled up 2,209 runs at an average of 27.61 and a strike rate of 130.25, including 10 fifties and two centuries.

 

T20 International career

 

Sanju Samson was selected in the Indian squad as a back-up wicketkeeper for the five-match bilateral series against England for ODIs on August 5, 2014, but failed to make it to the India playing-XI in any match.

 

Samson was frequently called to the national team but never made it to the playing XI, until he made his international debut against Zimbabwe at Harare, in 2015. In October 2019, he was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against Bangladesh. In November 2019 he was again called to the T20I series against West Indies vs India, after an injury to Shikhar Dhawan.

 

He was selected for the T20I series of the India tour of New Zealand and was part of the playing eleven as an opener. Though he couldn't create the desired impact with the bat, his acrobatic catch in the deep made people took note of his fielding prowess.