Switch off Wifi: Sanju Samson's quick fix to solve the issue of outside noise

Sanju Samson said he tries to switch off the Wi-Fi when outside noise swells around him. Samson showed his class as he scored a blazing fifty to help India defeat Afghanistan in the second T20I and seal the series.

In Short

• Samson scored 57 off 22 balls in 2nd T20I
• India beat Afghanistan by 7 wickets
• Samson said that he does get affected by the noise at times

One of the toughest issues a player has to deal with is the outside noise. More often than not, it is linked to performance, and Sanju Samson is no stranger to it. This year alone, he has experienced some major lows and incredible highs in cricket.

At one point, Samson was out of the Indian team just before the T20 World Cup, before making a stunning comeback and helping his side win the title with three back-to-back fifties. Yet, he soon found himself once again on the cusp of being left out.

AFG vs IND 2nd T20I: Highlights | Scorecard

This coincided with the rise of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and, after some lacklustre performances in Ireland and England, Samson was left out of the Zimbabwe series. He returned for the Afghanistan series, but the World Cup hero was quickly being painted as the villain for keeping Sooryavanshi out of the side.

Scoring 10 in the first T20I did little to help his cause and the noise only grew louder. Before Tuesday's match, fans were even saying they would not switch on their TVs because Vaibhav was not playing.

So, amidst all this noise, what does Samson do?

Well, he has a solution for all of it.

"I try to switch off the Wi-Fi," a smiling Samson joked, sending the reporters into splits.

But Samson feels it is quite normal for fans to voice their opinions or rant about things. He knows he has enough experience to deal with the situation.

"And sometimes the Wi-Fi gets switched on and I see the comments."

"I think it's very normal. I think it's their choice, sometimes it's their frame of mind, what words they want to use. It's totally up to them actually. They can use a positive frame of sentences or they can use a negative frame of sentences.

"So I think I have been mature enough and experienced enough to know how to handle it," said Samson.

'I AM NOT A ROBOT'

Apart from turning off the Wi-Fi, what has mostly helped silence the noise has been Samson's performances on the field. And on Tuesday, he needed one of those performances to help India win the series.

It was a slow and conservative start, almost like trying to work with a connection stuck on 2G or 3G in this era. He was 8 off 12 balls at one point, before it seemed like his Wi-Fi connection was suddenly restored.

Samson took down Afghanistan's bowling attack and brought up his fifty in just 20 balls. It was his first half-century in the format since his T20 World Cup final performance. He ended with a score of 57 off 22 balls as India won the match by 7 wickets.

It may silence the noise for a little while, but Samson admitted that the outside noise does affect him at times. The difference is that he has learned how to deal with it.

"I do feel a little bad. I am not a machine or a robot where I can say, 'No, I don't care.' I do care, and you kind of get a bit affected, but then you try to talk to yourself and tell yourself who you are and what you need to do."

"I think definitely outside noise does affect a cricketers in India, but you need to be very clear about what your mindset is, how you need to prepare, and what mindset you need to play with.

If I paid attention to that thing, then I can't bat like this. Before hitting, I will think 10 times, "Yaar, if I get out, then the Wi-Fi will become a problem again."

And that is perhaps the crux of Samson's approach. He knows the noise exists. He knows it can hurt. He also knows that pretending not to care would be a lie.

Instead, he tries to control what he can, talk himself through the pressure and keep the team ahead of everything else. The T20 World Cup, he feels, played a major role in building that mindset.

"I think my international career has been very good. I think I am very grateful. So I think the World Cup has also helped a lot."

"So I think whatever pressure you are in, you kind of realise what type of a player you are and you just try to go out there and express yourself, keeping your team in front," said Samson.

For Samson, then, the Wi-Fi is not really about escaping the noise forever. He will know that there will be times when he may need to switch it off for a bit.

But on the field, he knows that he will always have to be switched on to ensure that the noise doesn't drown him out.

- Ends