After an impressive outing in the recently concluded T20I series against Bangladesh, Sanju Samson has set his eyes on making it to the Indian Test squad.
During a recent media interaction, Samson revealed that he wants to play Test cricket for India. This comes after the teamās leadership asked him to feature in more Ranji Trophy matches.
Samson Wants to Play Test Cricket
The wicketkeeper-batter has been in the national team’s fold for almost a decade, having made his T20I debut in 2015. But given his start-stop career, the Kerala player hasnāt cemented his spot in the squad.
But with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from T20I cricket, it gives Samson a chance to make his mark. And he has grabbed the opportunity as he smashed a quick-fire century against Bangladesh in the third T20I in Hyderabad.
That performance has surely boosted his confidence, and now he wants to ply his trade in Tests along with the limited-overs cricket.
After his heroics against Bangladesh, Samson will turn up for Kerala against Karnataka for their second-round Ranji Trophy match starting on October 18.
Ahead of the match, Samson stated, āI believe I have the skill set to succeed in red-ball cricket, and I just donāt want myself to be restricted to just white-ball cricket. My desire is to play Test cricket for India. Before the Duleep Trophy, the leadership group had told me that they were considering me for red-ball cricket and asked me to take it seriously and play more Ranji Trophy matches.ā
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During the 2024 Duleep Trophy held in Anantapur last month, Samson had scored 106 runs while playing for India D. It was an aggressive knock from him, coming at a strike rate above 100. Going by his recent performances, Samson looks quite serious about playing Test cricket for India soon.
Samson has been playing First-Class cricket since November 2011. Since then, the keeper has featured in 64 matches, scoring 3819 runs at an average of 38.96, including 11 hundreds and 16 fifties.