How does Sanju Samson deal with the outside noise? "I try to turn my Wi-Fi off."
If you've only ever watched Samson bat on the internet, there's something you probably haven't noticed. Be it in between deliveries, between overs, or in pre-match practice, he always walks with an upright posture and short steps, as if in cinematic slow motion.
And when he punches gloves with his partner, their hands meet under his eyes. It might remind you of his characteristic bat swing, meeting the ball still and late.
At the end of India's powerplay against Afghanistan in the second T20I, Samson was 47 not out off 19. India were 82 for 0, with their required rate below six. The second T20I - and the series - was effectively sealed. He was outpacing the quickest batter in the history of T20I cricket, Abhishek Sharma, who was on an unbeaten 17-ball 33 himself.
"You can't say, 'let me be consistent in the outcome,'" Samson said after the game, when the outcome had worked out for him. He made a match-winning 57 in the chase of 160; India won by seven wickets. "We have to strike at a 200 strike rate, and you just have to hit a six or four off every ball… You can't think about scoring your own runs. I think consistency has to be in the frame of mind, which you are looking at, and then whatever happens, happens. I think that's what a fearless mindset is called."
Samson's fearless mindset had already taken him to 27 off 15 at the end of the fifth over. Then, fast bowler Azmatullah Omarzai came back to bowl his second over, searching for a new plan with no movement off the pitch.
Omarzai speared in a near-yorker to take out any room for a lofted shot. Samson waited deep in his crease. The toes on his left foot lifted slightly off the ground: it helped him push his centre of gravity backwards. He got under the ball just enough, at the final possible moment. His drive rocketed along the turf to the long-on boundary.
The next delivery, Omarzai pulled his length back and angled it onto his hips. Samson flicked the ball, waiting for it to arrive right under his eyes, despite the steep angle into him. Just his hands and his head turned towards the ball. Otherwise, he was still.
Now, Omarzai found a better length in between, keeping his third delivery well outside off. Samson took the extra second he seems to possess at the crease to do absolutely nothing, just watch the ball. Then, he swished an inside-out drive. The ball flew to the deep cover boundary.
"I take the chances knowing that if I fail again, I will be facing a lot of noise again," Samson said. "But I think that is the way we are built here in Indian cricket, and I just go out there and try to score maximum and contribute."
Samson made his India debut in 2015, but never got a proper run in the T20I side until 2024. In those ensuing nine years, though, different cohorts of India selectors were united by their willingness to keep picking him. Even when he made sporadic appearances in the XI, and even more sporadic runs when in it. In the end, Samson might have been built in the Indian cricket lab, but his appeal is that he is one of one.
There has always been an unmistakable Sanju-ness to his batting, the quality that kept him around for nearly a decade before he became India's first-choice opener. This quality was on display in Tuesday's powerplay, especially in the fifth over, when off three different lengths, he accessed three different parts of the boundary.
Let's look closer at his shots again. When he needed to balance himself for the on-drive, his front foot lifted. When he needed to flick the ball, his head tilted to one side. And when he played his inside-out shot, he preferred stillness. His batting, built on timing over the years, has adjusted its biomechanics to allow Sanju-ness its one essential truth: he meets the ball as late as possible.
Samson is, of course, in competition with the 15-year-old prodigy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, to open with Abhishek in T20Is. But based on Samson's selection in these first two games, he remains India's first-choice opener. He was their Player of the Tournament at the World Cup this year after all.
Still, the numbers make a compelling argument for Sooryavanshi. Since the start of 2024, Samson prefers spin in the powerplay - playing at a strike rate of 185.54 compared to pace, which he strikes at 147.54. But for Sooryavanshi, those numbers read an astronomical 215 and 228.78. Even Samson's blitz against pace on Tuesday - at a strike rate of 230 - just about keeps up with Sooryavanshi.
"I just… try to be very positive with your competitors as well," Samson said when asked about Sooryavanshi. "I think we are competitors for the outside world, but we are a team and we are playing for a country and we want to win the game first… We can't sulk or we can't be in a negative frame of mind that 'I didn't get [a chance to play].'"
Sooryavanshi's power-hitting prowess comes, in significant part, from his huge bat swing and an equally big follow-through. Because of this much more muscular bat swing, especially when he plays through the line of a delivery, he makes contact with the ball earlier than Samson does.
The Delhi surfaces in this series have been flat and true for batters. But Samson's in-built ability to play the ball late, especially in the 'V', makes him adaptable. Think of Omarzai's over on a slower wicket, or even one where the ball skids on more. Samson's late timing allows him to gauge length and bounce for that fraction longer before committing to the shot. Maybe this is why, in a series where India could have fielded either opener, they have given Samson their vote of confidence. With Abhishek perennially bashing it at one end, Samson offers India a different method at the other.
"Sometimes, the Wi-Fi turns on and I see the comments of the senior players," Samson explained after the game. "It's very normal… But if I had paid attention to those things, I wouldn't have been able to bat like this. I would have thought ten times before batting that if I get out. Then, there will be a Wi-Fi problem."
When Samson eventually holed out to deep extra cover off Rashid Khan in the seventh over, he walked off with his usual small steps, his back upright, still in slow motion.
"Whatever pressure you are in, I think you kind of realise what type of a player you are," he said. "You just try to go out there and express yourself."
As long as Samson keeps doing that, we'll keep tuning in - with our Wi-Fi firmly switched on.