Sanju Samson’s classy 102 from 63 balls was a three-part tale. A fluent start, which saw him race to 31 off just 14 balls. A cumbersome phase in the middle-overs, where he got just 19 runs from 27 balls.

Refusing to get bogged down by his struggles at the crease, Samson cut lose in what was a belligerent third phase, blasting his last 52 runs from just 22 deliveries.

His career so far could also be split into three similar arcs. The unassuming, fearless teenager of Rajasthan Royals, the directionless rebel who who spent much of last season fighting disciplinary battles for his state as well as poor form. With this ton, he may have thrown his hat in the ring for the Indian squad in the upcoming Champions Trophy.

Battling a nightmare season

“You need to have bad times to learn about life. If you keep on achieving success, you don’t learn. My past has helped me to become a better cricketer and I’m happy with my present,” the 22-year-old said, reflecting on a disastrous run.

Barely a year into franchise cricket, Samson was named in the 30-man probables list for the 2014 World Twenty20. Two-and-a-half years later, the Kerala batsman’s name was synonymous with being found out by bowlers in the domestic circuit, and left to answer a series of questions about flouting dressing room protocol.

There was also the famous “bat smashing” incident after falling to a second innings duck against Goa at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium – after walking back to the pavilion, Samson had slammed his bat into two in frustration. After starting the Ranji season with a breezy 154 against Jammu and Kashmir, he could only pick up 180 runs from the next 10 innings.

His fortunes didn’t look up in the Indian Premier League either, only managing 291 runs from 14 games last season. His compatriots and fellow prospects in the Delhi Daredevils setup such as Shreyas Iyer, Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant, stole a march over him. Was it a case of attention and the hype getting the better of the youngster?

Reasons for the slump

Samson even had some pundits draw comparisons to some of his mentor Rahul Dravid’s characteristics. And, there was good enough reason to jump to such conclusions, however outlandish it might have been at the time.

The elastic nature of Samson’s range helped him seamlessly slot into positions across the middle order: He could build an innings coming in at the top of the order or launch into a bowling attack if quick runs was the need of the hour.

However, a lack of guidance clearly had as debilitating effect on the player’s form and confidence, and the runs had dried up quite alarmingly.

Samson’s long-time coach Biju George also stressed on the importance of a senior player, a la Dravid’s man-management and technique, “It is vital that a reliable mentor is around to provide the right guidance when there is a dip in form”

“In Sanju’s case, there may be something in the team set-up which is distracting him or preventing him from performing to his potential,” George was quoted by Indian Express as saying.

Back in familiar territory

Coming in at 2/1 and handed with the task of building the innings is certainly one of the hardest tasks in Twenty20 cricket.

During his bad patch, Samson had lamented that he was getting starts, only to not convert them into big scores. He had stated that there are times when there is only so much a player can do in the middle, “At times, you can give your 100 per cent and do everything right and in earnest but you may not be able to score runs. You can do only what you can control,” Samson was quoted as saying in December 2016.

Even the domestic T20 tournament, the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament, didn’t go to plan, as he finished with a paltry average of 18.

After carving the experienced Ashok Dinda and Deepak Chahal with exquisite drives on the off-side and stylish one-legged pulls that was akin to a West Indies batsman of yore, Samson negotiated a tentative spell while nearing his fifty.

It have perhaps stemmed from being unable to kick on after solid starts, and batsmen are measured by landmarks. His spectacular assault on the bowlers in the final leg of his stay at the crease suggested the player successfully shrugging the monkey off his shoulders. At one stage, the ball sailed over the ropes despite Samson getting only the toe-end of his blade on it.

The glovesman now needs to break an unwanted trend that has followed him in the last two domestic seasons: Going through a bad patch after hitting a century. This time though, he has the nurturing arms of his mentor, who plucked him from near-obscurity.