Sanju Samson: All Actions
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97* (50) vs West Indies 🌴
Samson’s entire set up is optimised to get under the ball quickly. He’s begun crouching more, holding his bat low and not letting it flare up beyond his hips, and has his body entirely over his toes, meaning he’s over his own centre of gravity and is stable.
Front foot shifting across, freeing up the body:
This means Samson doesn’t have to shuffle around as much after the ball has been bowled, essentially meaning he’s less fidgety on the whole.
Ollie Pope please take notes. Much appreciated.
But what this obvious and pronounced leg side dominant step leads to is balance issues:
If Samson faces any ball that is [even remotely] outswinging, I think he’s more likely to fall across himself than not, meaning a lot of sliced shots and catching opportunities out in the deep.
This issue is naturally mitigated when he’s playing on the back foot (given his weight distribution naturally moves back + across), but if he misjudges the length of the delivery (therefore whether to play it on the front/back foot), he’s going to mistime a loooot of shots. It’s okay for a flat pitch, but otherwise… 🤷
That said, he dealt with inswingers well. Given he’s already shifting to the leg side, it’s a natural assumption that anything bowled toward the body may make him a slight bit uncomfortable. But Samson pivots so, so well on the back foot:
His mid-hind part of his back foot is always rooted to the ground, acting as a hinge from which the front part of his foot can pivot around. As a result, his entire body uses this swivelling momentum, and he’s able to play across himself with added power.
That said, things change a lot vs. spin. As mentioned before, Samson tries to get low as soon as possible, meaning he’s able to play [spin] late and low, and is able to find gaps that should otherwise be out of reach of an otherwise stiff batting arc.
And what’s especially interesting is how he approaches the cut:
I feel like the cut is predominantly a back foot shot. But since Samson gets into position so quickly, he’s able to firmly distribute his weight equally between his feet, from where he can “cut” on the front foot.
What I like about this is that it gives him two escape routes.
He’s in a decent position to drive/prod the ball to long off.
If the ball somehow skids, he can just about knock it away to keep himself from getting caught LBW.
Another major difference between how Samson handled pace vs. spin is with regard to the arc of his batswing:
Ultimately, it’s pretty natural within cricket. Get low and under the ball against spin, use precision and/or momentum against the ball to get it over the boundary. Use brute force and the incoming delivery’s pace against the [pace] bowler, with a higher batswing being used to combat added bounce.
Anyhow, as the match went on, Samson’s frame gradually opened up more, and I’ll put this down to a risk management/confidence thing. Considering this was his first match fresh out of some patchy form, it’s natural to square off/get “stuck”, so it was pretty nice to see him loosen up.
89 (42) vs England 🏴
Sanju Samson began this match without really shifting over to the leg stump. On his second ball, Archer bowled one onto the ~fifth stump. The next ball, fairly anticipating a ball at his body, Samson again [heavily] shifted onto leg stump:
High batswing + a loopy hitting arc to get under the ball fast:
And still, Samson continues to [firmly] pivot around his back foot. While this is principally the same thing as what he did vs. WI, the key difference here is he was more frequently dealing with extra bounce from Archer, so things looked a lot “prettier”.
While this may look like the most out-of-place and unfocused GIF ever, I’d like to focus on the ball here:
Perhaps it’s pareidolia (you learn a new word every day, even if it’s unnecessarily complicated jargon for imagining patterns in clouds), but I think the ball seems to “float” a bit more.
Of course, the wind plays a part. But I maintain that Samson’s entire body swivelling around his “hinge” makes a difference:
So like standing spinal twists with a cricket bat. Erm.
Anyhow, I’ve always held qualms with a loopy batswing (more nuance than just this statement), but they continue to plague my viewing here:
— Typically high batswing
— Bat loops around to go cross-batted
— Wrists are rolling while Samson’s trying to gently loft the ball over the top
— Bat rolls on contact with the ball and the ball happily travels to the fielder’s palms
And while I think this situation is contextually different when facing spin, and while I respect the long levers, the loopy batswing and “set” batting stance do mean Samson can get too rigid + fall over:
Not only is he already falling over, but he’s slicing the ball again, and that smorgasbord of pain means he’s likely not going to generate enough power on his shot. Plus, there’s enough of a gap between his bat and pad (thanks to some late turn) to fit the entirety of Narnia in there.
But I think this has been the foundation of my qualms with Samson. So the rest of this section is sorta hypothetical, given he played to the pitch, and the pitch was flat. But what if it wasn’t?
While micro adjustments mean Samson is able to shift himself into a decent position for most shots, I think variable pace and turn are a pretty easy way to a) get him plumb b) get him to lob one onto your fielder.
His momentum is so fast paced/wholly committal that he sorta can’t stop himself once he gets going vs. pace. This issue is mitigated vs. spin because of how low he gets, but even then, some [good] leg spin should be able to catch him off guard pretty easily.
While I’m fully aware this may never happen, I think a Test series in England could be the end of him. ODIs there could be a tad bit difficult too. General bounce in Australia/New Zealand, enabling him to shift over to the back foot, should help keep things “safe” but even still — late turn, late movement… yikes.
I say all of this, but ultimately Samson was able to squeeze this shot into a gap rather efficiently (+1 for weight distribution), so all’s well that ends well:
89 (46) vs New Zealand 🇳🇿
Having guts goes a long way. Having the guts to immediately step out in a World Cup final makes the ball go a long way:
General proactivity; meet the ball early, avoid swing. Body well balanced to handle extra bounce.
(Speaking of proactivity, Samson often took a middle stump guard during this game, especially vs. spin (by way of added pace)).
Again, consequence of a loopy batswing; momentum drags the bat [wildly] across one’s body, meets the ball too early, ball flies over the top for a catching scenario.
I mean, if you end up like this you’re probably not doing something right:
What I will say though is that Samson managed bounce really well throughout this match in particular. While his setup is naturally biased towards it, I felt pretty reassured watching him get ready to hook/pull and bah gawd is that Rohit Sharma music??
Shifting the distribution of your bodyweight 101:
— Harsh front step to get ready for a full ball
— Back leg moves across to allow Samson to open up without having to move the front leg again/risk falling over
— Shifts weight to back leg that is now perpendicular to his front foot
— Leans back on the lower leg and plays it square
It does genuinely baffle the mind how he does this with such limited movement:
Let’s compare these two frames. Both the same shot. One went for a six. The other was caught at mid off. And the difference in alignment is night and day:
— Leg grounded; in line with body as opposed to leg trailing behind, not able to bear any force
— Head over back foot, vs. head falling into no mans land
Samson was eventually dismissed to a slow full toss. And I think he was just as surprised to see that it was a slower ball, but ultimately there wasn’t much he could do about it:
Either way, after facing 45 balls in such a high intensity situation, you could argue mental strain leads to physical strain, and he wouldn’t be able to generate proportionate power. And that’s fine. There’s shame in getting out in this manner (game state) at all.
Conclusion
While this is a very niche and hyper specific look at a few high-pressure innings in Sanju Samson’s career, as someone who’s followed him for about 10 years now, I can confidently say that Sanju Samson, and his demeanour, lend themselves to him being not only an excellent batsman, but captain, and human being.
I do not believe there to be anyone nearly as uplifting/supportive as him when it comes to captaincy. Simultaneously, I do not trust many people to motor along as consistently as he does, while showing up when the lights shine brightest.
I watched his press conference following the semi final vs. England, and he laughed off not being able to make a century, instead saying he’ll play the scenario, and when it’s his day he’ll get a century, if not, he’ll support his teammates and let them make how much ever they can. I just feel like that mindset — and a mindset that lets you laugh and joke around with reporters, as small a thing as that may seem — is something a star studded side needs. The glue holding things together, sort of. He may not be glamorous, but who in the world needs glittery glue anyway.
Anyhow, his playstyle — or more specifically what he showed during the World Cup — does not bode well for red ball cricket, but also, I have to ask: why does it have to?
I don’t think it’s perfect for ODI cricket either, but his mentality and baseline technique will go a long way in ensuring he does stably enough there.
He’ll consistently throw his name in the selection hat, and from there it’s out of his control. Indian cricket is just so, so competitive, so if he does go unselected (which likely won’t happen post WC), it’s not very likely to be his fault.
Anyhow, I think CSK have pulled off a blinder in trading for him. You get a mini Dhoni, and while he may not have the global impact of a Rishabh Pant, he does tick the South Indian relatability box, and that goes a long way for a team begging for a new saviour.
And that saviour may just be Sanju Samson.
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