Team India keeper-batter Sanju Samson's father Samson Vishwanath has made some explosive claims about Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid, blaming them for ruining their son's career. Samson's father also stated that former chief selector Kris Srikkanth hardly had anything good to say about the Kerala-born cricketer. A video of the same emerged on social media.
Despite being one of the most elegant stroke players and having the penchant of hitting sixes at will, Samson was only getting sporadic chances at the international level. Having made his international debut in 2015, the 30-year-old has featured only in 16 T20Is and 35 ODIs.
Speaking in a video surfaced on social media, the right-handed batter's father lauded his son for bouncing back well despite Rohit, Kohli, Dhoni and Dravid not giving him the deserved opportunities. He said, as quoted by Sports Tak:
"There are 3-4 people who wasted 10 years of my son's vital career...captains like Dhoni ji, Virat [Kohli] ji, Rohit [Sharma] ji and coach [Rahul] Dravid ji. These four people destroyed 10 years of my son's life but the more they hurt him, the stronger Sanju came out of the crisis."
Samson's father went on to comment that Srikkanth hardly played any good innings for India to comment on his son.
"What hurt me really bad was comments from [Kris Srikkanth], the player from Tamil Nadu. I don't know what he has played. To this day, that individual has not spoken a good word of encouragement about my son, but has hurt him a lot with his words. People have been saying he [Srikkanth] was a great player but I haven't seen it."
Sanju Samson key as Team India target series lead:
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old looms as key as the Men in Blue target a series lead against South Africa in the third T20I on Wednesday at the Centurion. The right-hander scored an elegant hundred in the opening match in Durban to propel the tourists to a match-winning total of 202.
However, South Africa levelled the series in the 2nd T20I in Gqeberha, prevailing by three wickets in a nervy chase of 125.