South Africa vs India: When the door was closing on him, Sanju Samson kicks it open with maiden ODI ton in series decider | Cricket News

Sanju Samson could almost see the end of the road; he could see youngsters sprinting towards him from the rearview mirror, he could see the hatches battering down on his international 50-over career; he could see his name drifting into a dark corner in the head of selectors. But when everything raged against him, Sanju knuckled down, took destiny in his own dexterous hands and produced a knock that neither he nor the audience would forget, one in which his resolve under duress shone as brightly as his stroke-play.
His future in this format hanging slender, swaying thread, the series into its decider, Sanju asserted that he is more than just eye-pleasing strokes, that he has heart and steel too. During the innings break, he told the broadcasters that this was an “emotional moment of his life.”

Suns out, guns out 💪
Sanju Samson celebrates his century in Paarl as India move towards 250 with five overs to go.
📺 Stream #SAvIND live: https://t.co/ACEUH7ePOB pic.twitter.com/26rpnO7BCL
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 21, 2023
The paradox was that in the middle, there was hardly a riot of emotions flickering on his face. Sanju was batting without pressure, and batting without baggage. He was just watching and responding to a moving sphere of leather covered in white cloth.
His eyes were cold and blank, the face stern and serious. Every boundary passed without a smile; the half-century just about drew an artificial grin, even the hundred did not elicit raw celebration. Maybe, he was still processing the moment; maybe this is the terrain extreme focus could take him to. But whatever happens to his career, whether he withers or blossoms, Thursday afternoon at Boland Park would bring a content smile on his face. This was his dream when he first held a cricket bat. Only that the setting was far and different from his hometown in the seaside town of Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram.
In days to come, Sanju might explain the nuts and bolts of the innings, the pain and purpose behind its making. But the beauty of the innings would not be the splendour of his strokes. He did play some gorgeous beats. The inside-out lofted cover drive off Keshav Maharaj was majestic. Slow pitch, clever bowler, but he just shimmied down the track, shuffled his feet, stopped, and just guided the ball to a vacant area of the field. There were pulled fours and a ferocious six off Nandre Burger.
But this innings would be remembered more for his drive and ambition than scintillating stroke-play. Often in the past, Sanju’s undoing seemed to be his lack of bloody-mindedness, his flirtations with confusion. He had the gifts, but not often the resolve. The obvious offshoot was a muddle approach. There were sparks and embers that withered without setting the stage on fire. But at Boland Park, nestled between the Groot-Berg River and the Paarl Mountain, he realised that the best way to deal with fire was not with fire itself, but with ice. The most dinct feature of his innings was his clarity of mind, the utter lack of confusion, situational awareness and timely responses. So much so that it seemed Sanju was running away from his own shadow.
India’s batsman Sanju Samson watches his shot during the final One Day International cricket match between South Africa and India, at Boland Park in Paarl, South Africa, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Nearly flawless
Throughout his 167-minute stay, he hardly put a wrong. Hardly a stroke came off the edge; barely was there a stroke in angst. Yet, it seemed like the moment he imploded was lurking stealthily behind him. The start was typically breezy. When he push-drove Beuran Hendricks for his third boundary, he moved to 26 off 33 balls, a steady clip after the openers had fleeced 35 runs in five overs.
But the biggest test was yet to come. The ball lost its lustre; the pitch its pace. Batting suddenly became hard labour. KL Rahul would scratch around for 21 off 35 balls; Tilak Varma’s first 30 balls produced seven runs. The run rate dropped alarmingly, dot balls piled like shoppers in Chandni Chowk on Diwali eve.
But Sanju would chug along. To move from 38 to 64 (26 runs), he consumed 44 balls, hitting just one four in the span.So sluggish the pitch was that even part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram was warily seen off.
Sanju’s partner, Varma, had dug a deep trench at the other end. The pressure buzzed. But Sanju felt nothing. Just once he attempted a banal swipe through point that fell inches short of third man. He would occasionally back away and expose his stumps to the spinners, but would res the impulse to play a wild attacking stroke. He would just tap the ball into a gap and stroll for a single. For he knew that he needed to bat as deep as possible for his team to put up a competitive score on the board. Indulgences could affect his side’s prospects, as well as his own. He was playing for himself and the team. Precisely for this reason, this was an innings that should be consumed in full and not limited to highlights packages.

But when the time came to accelerate, he shifted gears effortlessly. Beginning with a fearsome pull of Lizaad Williams in front of square, he struck 44 runs off 24 balls. Varma too kicked on and secured his maiden half-century in ODIs.
The sniff of a maiden hundred, that career-defining moment, did not freeze Sanju either. He stormed into the 90s muscling Burger for a six, his second of the innings. A brace and a stream of singles took him to the promised land. From seeing the end of the road to setting foot on the promised land, Sanju would not forget this day at Boland Park.