In two days’ time, Sanju Samson will ring in his 30th birthday. In cricketing terms, that is early middle age, a phase when a batter, especially, is on the cusp of entering the most productive phase of his career. It’s taken Samson a while to get there, but recent indications are that the stylist from Pulluvila in Thiruvananthapuram is well on course to resurrect a flagging international career which hitherto showed little correlation between ability and returns.

Few batters in the modern game fuse correctness and elegance with Samson’s effortlessness. In all ways imaginable, he is a new-age batter in that he scores rapidly, is constantly seeking and stretching the boundary, literally and figuratively. And yet, he does it with old-world charm, unhurried at the crease, shunning the power-hitting that is a direct fallout of the T20 thought process and still able to hit sixes with ridiculous regularity.

Take Durban and Friday night, for instance. Samson became the first Indian to score back-to-back T20I centuries, following up 111 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad last month with 107 against South Africa. The latest gem came off 50 deliveries and contained 10 sixes – the joint most in an innings by an Indian, alongside Rohit Sharma against Sri Lanka several summers back. Not one of those sixes was accrued through ugly ball-bashing; through a wondrous mix of sinuous timing and optimal contact, he sent the ball soaring deep into the Kingsmead stands. It was Samson of Rajasthan Royals reprised, a Samson India had craved so desperately since his debut in July 2015, a Samson that now is on a mission to make up for lost opportunities, lost time, lost runs.

Shunted up and down the order – he has occupied every slot from No. 1 to No. 7 at least once in his 30-innings career – he has found his sweet spot at the top of the tree. Before this latest run, he had opened the batting five times, a highest of 77 sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of three single-digit scores. But after a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka in July when he was dismissed for ducks in both his outings, he received an unexpected shot in the arm with Suryakumar Yadav, the now-retired Rohit’s successor as India’s T20 leader, assuring Samson of an extended run as opener, with the specific diktat to work his game against spin.

Who opens for India in T20Is when Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal return?

Energised by the inputs from the captain and from new head coach Gautam Gambhir, Samson has done precisely that. The clear channels of communication have clearly helped; behind the stumps, Samson is still prone to lapses but in front of it, he is making a strong case for a permanent place even when the ‘regular’ openers, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, are back in the fray.

Gill, the designated deputy to Suryakumar for the T20Is and to Rohit in the ODIs on the Sri Lanka tour in July-August, and the left-handed Jaiswal have formed a robust alliance in their brief stint together as openers in the 20-over game. They complement each other beautifully, share a superb understanding, feed off each other and make the most of the familiarity of batting together in Test cricket too – Gill comes in at No. 3, behind Jaiswal and Rohit. In Zimbabwe this year, they were an unstoppable force and, all other things being equal, were being viewed as India’s long-term T20 opening pair leading up to the next World Cup, at home in February-March 2026. That tournament, where India will defend their title, is 15 months away and the contours of the final team won’t take tangible shape for another 10 months or thereabouts, but Samson’s current form has queered the pitch – happily, many will aver.

How do India fight a square peg in a round hole? Samson’s most productive T20I scores have come as an opener, but will India be open to splitting up Gill and Jaiswal? And if not, will Suryakumar drop down to No. 4 to accommodate the Kerala man at No. 3? It is premature to speculate about all this, given that India’s immediate priorities are five-match Test series in Australia (starting in less than a fortnight) and England (next summer) which will sandwich the 50-over Champions Trophy in February-March. Sport isn’t just about short-term planning but also having a vision for a more vibrant tomorrow, and Gambhir and Suryakumar, as well as Ajit Agarkar and his selection panel, won’t be unaware that they are grappling with a problem of plenty.

Having created problems of a different kind in the past, Samson won’t mind one bit that he has now contributed to the happy headache. The cure? He doesn’t care, does he, so long as the runs keep flowing.

Read Also: Sanju Samson's late night post after record century against South Africa amazes Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan

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