Sanju Samson doesn't need to become the next Dhoni… When Gautam Gambhir told Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi. Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir once while talking to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor about Sanju Samson, said that this player does not need to become the next Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Because he will be 'one-of-a-kind Sanju Samson'. Tharoor said this while referring to his earlier comment in which he had said that Samson would become the next Dhoni.

Shashi Tharoor, while talking to PTI, recalled this conversation with Gambhir and also praised Samson's brilliant performance during India's recent consecutive T20 World Cup champions. Tharoor, who has been supporting Samson since the beginning of his career as a club cricketer, said that he feels proud of the cricketer's achievements.

He said, 'I actually met him when he was 14 years old, he was a young club cricketer. Although he looked thin, his body was quite muscular. He had tremendous talent. He was doing both wicket-keeping and batting since that time.

Tharoor said, 'I told him (Samson) that he will become the next Dhoni. Years later, when I talked about that comment, my friend Gautam Gambhir said, 'No, no, he does not need to be the next Dhoni, he will be special in his own right, just Sanju Samson.' And he has proven to be exactly that.

The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said, 'When I was with him in thick and thin, in difficult times, I felt that if he could control himself, everything would come back. The talent was always present in him. I think when he started playing in the match against West Indies, I saw something in his eyes that at that very moment I said, 'This boy is not going to get out today.'

Tharoor said, 'Later I told him this also. Because I was watching it on TV. You could see that confidence in his eyes, on his face. He played an unbeaten innings scoring 97 runs. He was not out in that match. He also mentioned Samson's innings of 89-89 runs in both the semi-final and final matches.