Back in February, India’s Under 19 side arrived in Dubai for the age-group World Cup as strong favourites to retain the title they won in Australia two years earlier. As it turned out, they ended up winning few friends and influencing few games.
Put simply, they did not present themselves as a very likeable bunch. After they exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage, two of their players, one of whom was their captain, Vijay Zol, were banned for unbecoming behaviour.
In fairness, they were far from the only culprits in a tournament characterised by ubiquitous surliness by teenagers who have clearly watched too much television. But it did feel difficult to take to India’s Indian Premier league (IPL) millionaires-in-waiting. There just seemed to be an unseemly sense of entitlement about their demeanour.
All except for one – the one player who probably could bolt around bragging about all his loot if he wanted to: Sanju Samson.
As the U19 World Cup began, the horse-trading of the IPL auction was underway back in India. Unlike his colleagues, Samson did not have to concern himself with that, though. Despite being a teenager, he had already been retained by Rajasthan Royals as a core player.
As a result, he was said to have become the youngest IPL “crorepati” – meaning someone worth more than 10 million rupees (Dh610.8m).
If the sudden, upward mobility was not enough to go to his head, then the glowing tributes by Rahul Dravid, his franchise colleague and one of India’s greats, might have been.
Yet Samson does not betray the merest hint of arrogance. It is difficult to believe he could not be any more sweet if he was made of honey. He is grateful to his dad for taking voluntary retirement from his job in the police force to give him a better shot at playing cricket for a living. He hopes to follow his father’s example and is studying to become a police officer himself.
He wants to follow it through, no matter where cricket takes him.
Rather than seeing media interviews as a chore, at their conclusion he asks the interviewer for tips as to how he might improve.
And as for Dravid, the Royals mentor who regards Samson as a future star of India’s national team, the young prodigy remains in awe.
“The support he and the team management gave me during the IPL was amazing,” said Samson, who is bound to be well supported by the substantial Keralite expatriate community while in the UAE.
“Any guy who is my age in any team, if he had that sort of support he would be motivated to perform for them.
“I feel very lucky I’m with Rahul Dravid and his team.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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