India, Oct. 10 -- Sanju Samson has a rather peculiar relationship with the Indian team.

There have been instances when he has looked absolutely indispensable to India's plans, scoring runs at stages and in places where most other batters have struggled.

But then a string of low scores draw attention to his spot on the team with other names starting to enter the conversation.

The most interesting part, however, is that every time the clamours of his critics have intensified, Samson has silenced the detractors with his bat.

The latest example was on Friday against West Indies in Ranchi. Leading up to the match, the Indian opener had scores of 9, 7, 2, and 11 in his previous four outings. That is 29 runs in 29 balls at an average of 7.25...