Samson had scored ducks in both the T20Is he played against Sri Lanka in 2024 – his first matches since the T20I World Cup win. That is when Gambhir re-emphasized his faith in Samson.
“I scored two ducks in two matches against Sri Lanka. I started thinking, ‘oh, is it going back to the same thing, two matches in the team and then I go out’. I was a bit down in the dressing room, and Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) saw. He came up to me and asked, ‘Kya hua? (What happened?)’,” Samson revealed.
“I said, I got two chances, but I couldn’t score. Gauti bhai said, ‘Toh kya hua? (So what?),” Samson said.
“Only if you score 21 ducks, I will drop you from the team,” were Gambhir’s words of reassurance, as revealed by Samson.
“Those are the words he used. These kinds of words from the captain and coach raise your confidence. You feel that they really trust you, and want you to do well,” Samson said.
Samson also revealed that during the Duleep Trophy 2024/25, Suryakumar Yadav walked up to him and told him that he’d get a run of seven games as an opener in T20Is.
As it turned out, Samson not only featured regularly in the four-match T20I series against South Africa in November 2024, but also in the five-match T20I series against England in January and February 2025. The wicket-keeper batter repaid the trust shown in him, slamming two centuries during the period.
Meanwhile, Samson has been involved in the centre of Indian Premier League (IPL) trade chatter, after an under-par season with Rajasthan Royals (RR), where his team finished ninth out of ten teams.
As per a report by Cricbuzz, the 30-year-old Samson has formally handed in a request to RR to be either traded or released into the auction, after serious differences emerged between him and the team management.