Sanju Samson, who recently scored his maiden T20I ton, has said that he desperately wanted to perform in order to vindicate head coach Gautam Gambhir, who has been backing him consistently. The right-handed batter said that he was not able to make eye contact with the former India opening batter after registering a string of poor scores in the first two T20Is against Bangladesh.

In the third and final T20I against Bangladesh, Sanju Samson smashed 111 runs off just 47 balls with the help of 11 fours and eight sixes. Before this game, the batter from Kerala had registered scores of 29 and 10 in the first two T20Is.

"I agree that the relationship between a coach and a player is very important. The coach trusts in your ability and you want to repay that trust by performing well for your team. In Hyderabad, I was determined and desperately wanted to show Gauti bhai that if you are backing me and giving me the chances, I won’t disappoint you," Sanju Samson told journalist Vimal Kumar in an interview.

"In the Bangladesh T20I series, I didn’t score big in the first couple of matches and I was a bit hesitant to make eye contact with him but I told myself that apna time aayega (my time will come). So when I got that hundred in Hyderabad and the coach was clapping, I was delighted," he added.

Sanju Samson says he has a lot of respect and regard for Suryakumar Yadav

During the Hyderabad T20I between India and Bangladesh, everyone saw the kind of bonding Sanju Samson shares with Suryakumar Yadav. As soon as the right-handed Sanju scored his maiden T20I ton, Suryakumar Yadav was seen celebrating at the non-striker's end, and he also gave a warm hug to Sanju.

Sanju Samson has now shared that he has a lot of respect for Surya, as he has seen his struggle and hard work. "I don’t know how many people are aware of this but me and Surya go a long way since we have played a lot of junior cricket together. In fact, both of us also play for BPCL and we have spent a lot of time together discussing cricket," he said.

"So, there is already a connection and friendship and I know his game and he knows my game. I have seen how Surya has become such a phenomenal player today because I have seen his struggle and hard work. I have an enormous amount of respect for what he has achieved as a batter and now this has increased more because he is also leading the country which is a big deal. In Delhi, I was just trying to pick up his brain about how he has become so consistent and dominant in this format. What are the good things he has been doing. He is such a transparent character that he shared lots of things with me," he added.

Sanju Samson has so far played 33 T20Is for India, scoring 594 runs at an average of 22.84. The batter, who leads Rajasthan Royals in IPL, will be hoping for this to be the beginning of a far more consistent run in the national side.

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