India wicketkeeper-batter, Sanju Samson recently opened up on his desire to play Test cricket. Samson, who starred in the recently-concluded T20I series against Bangladesh, finished as the highest run-scorer, courtesy his maiden T20I century for India which came in the third and final T20I in Hyderabad.
With his 111 off 47 balls in the third T20I at the Uppal Stadium in Hyderabad, which included of 11 fours and eight sixes, Samson became the first Indian wicketkeeper-batter to score a T20I century. After his prolific batting display, the Kerala-born cricketer broadened his horizons and revealed his plans to play Test cricket for India.
I want to play Tests for India: Sanju Samson
The 29-year-old, who will return to domestic cricket after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mandated players to play domestic cricket when not on national duty, will return to his state team for the second round of Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Speaking ahead of the upcoming Ranji Trophy assignment, Sanju Samson clarified, “Before the Duleep Trophy, the leadership group sent me a message saying that they were looking at me as a red-ball option too and asked me to play Ranji Trophy. The Duleep Trophy performance (scoring a hundred) helped.”
I believe that I can play all three formats. I don’t want to be restricted to white-ball cricket. I have the desire to play Tests for India. I played well in the Ranji Trophy before and I want to do well in the coming days as well,” the 29-year-old said at a media interaction in Thiruvananthapuram. With talks around his batting position still on, he further clarified, “I have trust in my ability and from No.1 to No.6, I have the skillset to bat anywhere.”
Notably, Samson has played 64 first-class games, scoring 3819 runs at an average of 38.96. He missed the opening round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy but will be in action in Kerala’s upcoming match against Karnataka, which will begin on Friday, October 18.