If I go behind consistency, I will lose my style of batting, believes Sanju Samson

Having been deemed as the next big thing in Indian cricket by many former players like Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir, Sanju Samson hasn’t been presented enough opportunities to prove his mettle with the national side. His only international match being back in 2015, against Zimbabwe, Samson is on the lookout to grab even the smallest of opportunities with the T20 World Cup coming up.

A batsman with a tremendous record in the domestic circuit as well as the IPL, Samson’s only set back has been his lack of consistency to play those big knocks. Coming into the T20I side for the West Indies series as a replacement for an injured Shikhar Dhawan, Samson conceded that he doesn’t lose sleep over consistency as he feels it might affect his natural game.

"I have never thought of that (consistency) as an issue. What I have understood is that I am a bit different type of a player where I just feel that I should go and dominate the bowlers. So, when I have a style and I am looking to dominate the bowlers, it can happen…if I go behind consistency, I will lose my style of batting. I don't want to change my style of playing to bring in consistency," TOI quoted Samson.

"I like to keep things as simple as possible and when I get the opportunity I look to score big. If I get five innings, I want to score big in one or two innings and win matches for my team. Consistency in my innings won't win matches for my team. It is more important to play an outstanding innings to win my team games. I go behind that kind of idea."

Talking about the wicket keeping aspect of his game, the youngster that it completely depends on how the team needs his to deliver. He shared he has never thought twice when it comes to serving his team and hence is open to keep wickets too if his needs him to do so.

"I have been keeping wickets in white-ball cricket for Kerala for the last five or six years and have also kept in the Ranji Trophy format. I keep that as an open thing. Whatever my team requires, I do it accordingly. In the IPL, whenever my team wanted me to keep I did. But they at time felt I could contribute more on the field, so I did that. I prepare for myself both as a keeper and fielder because you never know what the team is looking at," he pointed.

So, it isn't true that he doesn't like donning the big gloves? "Absolutely not. It is not true. I can't explain every time to everyone what is happening in the team management. I am a keeper and when my team wants me to keep, I do that and when they ask me to field I do that. I can't tell the team what I want to do right? The team is the priority," he said.

As head coach Ravi Shastri hinted that the place of a keeper batsman is still up for grabs in the T20 World Cup squad, it wasn’t even necessary to ask the Kerala lad if making it to the team is the aim now. Samson answered otherwise sharing that lifting the silverware for the team is top priority and he is preparing accordingly.

"The dream is to win the World T20 for India in Australia. I am training for that, not to be a part of the team. I want to win the World Cup for my country and that is the standard I set for myself and that is how I plan my work ethics. Definitely the dream is to win the trophy as it has been a while since we won one and I would definitely want to have some quality contributions in the process. That is the dream and I am working towards it," he signed off.