IND vs SA 3rd ODI: 'Past three-four months were mentally challenging for me', reveals Sanju Samson after his maiden ton

After scoring his maiden ODI ton, in the post match presentation, Sanju Samson admitted that the last three-four months were mentally tough for him, but he kept saying himself that you need to play match winning innings.

Paarl (South Africa): India’s wicket-keeper batter disclosed that the past three-four months were mentally challenging for him but he kept telling himself that you need to play match winning innings and eventually it helped him to smash his maiden ODI century. Samson received the Player of the Match award for his exceptional effort in the third and the last ODI.

Despite having exceptional numbers in ODI cricket, Samson was excluded from India's squad for the ICC World Cup 2023 while the wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav were preferred over him for the marquee tournament. The 29-year-old was not even included in India’s Asian Games squad, indicating that he is really low in the selectors' pecking order. Notably, the Kerala batter was averaging 55.7 with a strike rate of 104 in 13 ODI innings before both the tournaments.

"The last three, four months were challenging for me mentally. So going through all that and coming here I think doing what I did today, I think I feel really happy and grateful," Sanju said after the 78-run win on Thursday.

On Thursday, however, he took things in his own hand and scored his maiden ODI century to help India win the third game and clinch the series 2-1 against South Africa. This is India’s only second series win in South Africa after the Virat Kohli-led side thrashed Proteas by 5-1 in the six match series in 2018.

"I've been blessed in my genes. My father is also a sportsman, so how many setbacks you have, I think there's always no other way to come back and bounce back... think how much you can work on yourself and how you can come back more strongly," he added.

He was given a chance to bat at number three spot in absence of former India skipper Virat Kohli, Samson smashed a scintillating century 108, joined forces with Tilak Varma (52) to take India to a competitive target. During the innings, he was boosting his partner Tilak’s confidence, who was struggling to find singles and had scored only three runs off the first 25 balls.

"When Tilak came in we both had a tough four or five overs where I think (Keshav) Maharaj, was bowling the best. I think both the ends were a bit tight. That's when we thought that we need to go on and take some risks at the moment." Asked how he kept his calm during the knock, Samson said, "I don't know actually. It comes very naturally to me.

"It's very important to make really good decisions. When you are calm and when you are aware of your thoughts, emotions of your physical being and mental being that helps me to make some really good decisions," he remarked.

"Honestly, I think I was not looking at the scorecard. Until I had a partnership with Tilak till then I just wanted to play and like go with the merit. I just watched the ball and bat and the boundaries and the scoring options ultimately happened. So I was just focused on the process and playing one ball at a time and then I think the scorecard kept on ticking,” he added.

Speaking about early thoughts after a blistering start from South Africa openers, Samson said, "I think the power-play, the way South African openers batted, I thought they were taking the game away five overs before. But after that when our fast bowlers came in between, and the ball I think was maintained nicely by all the teammates... the fast bowlers also hit some proper areas to get those crucial wickets of David (Miller) and crucial wickets were important for us."

Coming to the match, The hosts were looking solid and were cruising towards the victory Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh removed dangerous looking Tony Zorzi for 81 off 87 balls. And then, Indian bowlers wreaked havoc on Proteas batting lineup and bundled them out for 218 in 45.5 overs.