Trending star: Why has Sanju Samson become a cult hero?

Sanju Samson’s inability to find a regular place in the Indian team often leaves fans fuming. What explains this fanatic following for a cricketer whose numbers remain underwhelming

It has become a thing now. Each time the Indian squad is announced and a certain player isn't included, a legion of fans demand #JusticeForSanju. Each time Rishabh Pant fails in T20Is, the fans vociferously call for their favourite. Each time the Indian team struggles, they look to the Kerala player. Sanju Samson trends, sometimes for reasons even he possibly can't fathom. It happened at the Fifa World Cup too -- a fan unveiled a banner sending "Lots of love to Sanju from Qatar. We support you #SanjuSamson."

Sanju Samson fields during the first ODI between New Zealand and India at Eden Park in Auckland (AFP)

Now, if you have come late to the party, you would imagine that Sanju Samson has been distinctly unlucky to not make the India team. Either that or there is some really nasty business at play. But the numbers don't quite add up -- not in the way you would imagine they should. Why should there even be a selection controversy for a batter who’s played 27 limited-overs matches in 7 years? His first-class and list A averages -- 37.64 and 32.40 -- aren't outstanding either.

Indeed, as many Samson fans will tell you, this is not about the numbers. This is about talent -- that the right-hander possesses and one that could allow him to truly change the game for India... if he is given a long enough run that is. He has played 11 ODIs for India since making his debut in July 2021, scoring 330 runs at an average of 66.00. Great numbers, yes but many of those matches have been played as part of the second Indian team, (the one that is usually captained by Shikhar Dhawan). T20 is where many feel he could make his mark but he has never quite gotten a consistent enough run. He made his debut in 2015 but that was his only match for five years. His next games for India came in 2020 (6), then in 2021 (3) and 2022 (6).

Other lesser talented players, his fans will tell you, get a longer rope but not Sanju. Why? So they gather around him as best as they can, they let them know they have his back and they egg on this 28-year-old son of a policeman. His father left his job in Delhi Police and shifted to Thiruvananthapuram when Samson was in his teens.

“People down South love an underdog. Someone like Sanju taking on Mitchell Johnson at the age of 19, it appealed to them,” said Biju George, one of Samson’s earliest coaches. “Here is someone who has climbed the ladder from a humble background and he behaves like any one of them.”

Samson’s India appearances have been fleeting, but in his neck of the woods a throng of fans around him is a common sight. During home internationals, more cheers are reserved for Samson over Virat Kohli, even when he is not in the playing eleven.

“It got a bit awkward,” Samson told teammate R Ashwin in a YouTube chat about him being cheered wildly during an India match in Thiruvananthapuram. “I was more like ‘please, stop it guys!’ It was surreal. People are so emotional, they support you through your ups and downs.”

“Cricket fans in Kerala are not very knowledgeable. They just want you to represent them at the international level. They just want you to do well,” said Tinu Yohannan, the first Kerala cricketer to play for India. “You won’t find too many understanding the team-thinking and playing combinations. So, emotions take over. Besides, Sanju is the first batter they can cheer for.”

It helps that Samson has a way with fans. It comes naturally to him. A Rajasthan Royals support staff recalls how Samson once met a young fan who was overcome with emotion on meeting his hero. So, Samson, booked a ticket back home to Bangalore for the youngster.

On social media, the echo-chamber effect takes over. They do it all the time and it doesn't take much to get the fan clubs started. On Sunday, when KL Rahul wearing the 'keeper's gloves dropped a sitter in Dhaka, Samson’s missing status popped up on social media.

The excitement and anticipation around Samson’s unfulfilled potential became evident earlier in the year when he was the centre of the crowd’s attention during a practice session in Florida ahead of a T20I against West Indies. Dinesh Karthik and Ashwin joined the ‘Sanju, Sanju’ chorus to the amusement of the crowd. Samson didn’t find a place in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup that followed.

For politicians such as Shashi Tharoor, backing Samson publicly--Tharoor is the Thiruvananthapuram MP--is a popular thing to do. Tagging coach VVS Laxman and citing statistical comparisons with Rishabh Pant, Tharoor reasoned why Samson was dealt with unfairly in the recent series against New Zealand.

A real talent

But with India in need of recalibrating their strategy after the T20 World Cup, many feel that this might be Samson's chance to rise above the hype and give his fans something real to cheer for.

“It feels like the game is too easy for him, so 'I'm going to try something different, I'm going to try and make sure I can play every shot in the book'," former Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori recently said after another cheap Samson dismissal.

But the love also comes from hope; hope that one day he will do justice to his potential.

“That guy has got talent, man,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said, earlier in the year. Sharma, who himself was once a victim to expectations, knows exactly what this feels like.

“He has got the skill set to succeed. Now that is the whole point about this sport, a lot of people have skill-set, have talent, but it is how you utilise them is the most critical part and I think, it is up to Sanju to understand how he want to utilise the talent and how he can maximise it,” Sharma said.

The difference between potential and impact remains a clear one for Samson at the moment. He bats, seemingly, without a care. The first delivery the Kerala right-hander faced while playing for India after five years in Jan 2020, he dispatched for a six. He got out off the very next ball but he wasn't deterred.

"I am not here to score lots and lots of runs. I'm here to score a small amount of runs which are very effective for the team," he said on the show Breakfast with Champions in May 2022.

And that remains the challenge for Samson. The spotlight -- thanks to his cult following -- is already on him and he needs to find a way to seize the moment; to prove that backing him was always the right thing to do.