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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday praised Indian cricketer Sanju Samson for his stellar performances in the recent T20 World Cup and described him as the "greatest product of Vizhinjam," the Kerala town where Samson was born.
Speaking to ANI, Tharoor called Samson a modest, focused and terrific young man and credits his community for the role in his remarkable World Cup campaign. "He is a terrific young man. Very modest, very focused, and very good. He's a credit to the strong community he comes from, which is a fishing community of Vizhinjam in my constituency. Today, we have a big port in Vizhinjam, but the greatest export, the greatest product of Vizhinjam, is still Sanju Samson," said Tharoor. Samson amassed 321 runs in five innings at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.37, hitting 27 fours and 24 sixes and ended as the third-highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup. He also surpassed Virat Kohli's total of 319 runs in the 2014 T20 World Cup edition to have the most runs by an Indian during a single T20 World Cup edition. Tharoor, who has known Samson since the cricketer was 14, described their relationship fondly. "I've been a sort of uncle to him in some ways, because I met him when he was 14. I gave him a lot of encouragement. I may not be the most qualified cricket fan to do so, but I told him when he was 14 that he was going to be the next MS Dhoni." "And when I recall that, those words, some years later, my friend Gautam Gambhir said, he doesn't have to be the next anybody. He's going to be the first one and only Sanju Samson. And that's turned out to be right," said Tharoor. Samson scripted a comeback for ages during the recently-concluded T20 World Cup as he battled inconsistency and benching to emerge as India's leading run-getter in the tournament, delivering clutch performances when it mattered the most, with a string of half-centuries from the virtual quarterfinal against West Indies to the title clash against New Zealand. Tharoor described Samson's batting in the World Cup as "poetry in motion." "Those last three matches of the World Cup. What a phenomenal performance! This was somebody who seemed relentlessly focused, calm and composed on top of his game. Nothing was allowed to disturb him. Everything that he was supposed to be, short pitch bowling and then he hit it. But it was beautiful cover drives. There was poetry in motion. It was a joy watching him bat," he said. On personal interactions during the tournament, Tharoor said, "He called me afterwards to wish me on my birthday. And I was able to share my warmest thoughts and appreciation for him." Looking ahead, Tharoor expressed hope that Samson will return to India's One-Day International (ODI) squad. "From here, I want to see him getting back into the ODI squad as well. After all, don't forget that his last innings in ODI cricket was a century, and they dropped him after that. So let's give him a chance again. ODI, maybe even in test cricket." (ANI)
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