"Gautam Gambhir used to wait for Sanju Samson to do well for him to tweet" - Aakash Chopra lauds opener's century in IND vs BAN 2024 3rd T20I

Aakash Chopra has lauded Sanju Samson for scoring a belligerent century in the third T20I between India and Bangladesh in Hyderabad on Saturday, October 12. He opined that the Indian coach Gautam Gambhir would be delighted with the wicketkeeper-batter's knock.

Samson smashed 111 runs off 47 deliveries as India set Bangladesh a mammoth 298-run target after opting to bat first. The Men in Blue then restricted the Bangla Tigers to 164 for seven to register a 133-run win and complete a 3-0 whitewash in the series.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener recalled Gambhir's fondness for Samson.

"Let's talk about Sanju Samson, the phenomenon. Gautam Gambhir had tweeted a few years ago that Sanju Samson is not only India's best wicketkeeper-batter but the best young batter in the country. Once I was interviewing him (Samson) and I told him that the only motive in his life should be to get Gautam to tweet," he said (1:50).

"Gautam used to wait for Sanju to do well for him to tweet. Gautam was a Sanju fan. He may still be a Sanju fan because of the way he batted. Firstly, he hit five sixes in an over. He said his mentor had asked him to do so. It came to my mind why his mentor didn't talk about six sixes," Chopra added.

Chopra praised Samson's strokeplay and was particularly in awe of a six he hit off Mustafizur Rahman's bowling.

"Anyway, five sixes. He was stepping away and hitting sixes and fours along the ground. You will always see that silken touch in Sanju's batting. His batting is extremely pleasing to the eye. He hits sixes while standing in his position and hits straight. He hit a six off the backfoot over cover against Mustafizur, and I was like 'Wow'," he elaborated.

Samson struck 11 fours and eight sixes during his innings. It included five consecutive maximums of Rishad Hossain's bowling.

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"Sanju Samson scoring a century is a massive positive" - Aakash Chopra

In the same video, Aakash Chopra highlighted the significance of Sanju Samson's century.

"Sanju Samson scoring a century is a massive positive. You don't often get to bat first twice in a three-match series on good pitches with the opposing team not pushing you that much. In such a scenario, if you send the series without scoring runs, the pressure increases, and on Sanju in any case," he said (3:00).

The reputed commentator pointed out that the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter rarely gets consistent opportunities, with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Shubman Gill also competing for the openers' positions.

"His career graph has been like that. He doesn't get repeated opportunities that easily and in any case, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill will come back at some stage. It was an important innings. So well done Sanju Samson," Chopra observed.

Samson added 173 runs for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav after Abhishek Sharma's early departure. The Indian skipper smashed a 35-ball 75 with the help of eight fours and five sixes.