New Delhi | Sanju Samson does not have to be the next Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he will be "the one and only Sanju Samson". This is what Indian cricket coach Gautam Gambhir once told Congress MP Shashi Tharoor when the latter recalled his own earlier remark that Samson would be the next Dhoni.

In an interview with PTI, Tharoor recalled this conversation with Gambhir while also hailing Samson's heroics in India's victorious World T20 campaign recently.

Tharoor, who has been supporting Samson since the start of his career as a club cricketer, said he feels tremendous pride at the cricketer's achievements.

"I actually met him when he was 14, he was a young club cricketer, small chap with a big smile, he was already quite muscular, though he was slender to look at, and tremendous talent, he was already both wicketkeeping and batting.

"I had slightly patronisingly told him (Samson) that he would be the next Dhoni. Years later, when I recalled that remark, my friend Gautam Gambhir said 'No, No, No, he does not have to be the next Dhoni, he will be the one and only Sanju Samson', and that is exactly what he has turned out to be," Tharoor told PTI.

Samson has been a terrific success -“ quiet, modest, unpretentious, a good and effective leader who had led the Rajasthan Royals very effectively for many years, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram said, noting that Samson is now going to be in the CSK in the IPL.

More important is the stability and the anchoring he brought at the top of the order for the Indian team, Tharoor said.

"When I suffered with him as it were during the trials and tribulations, I felt that if he could just compose himself, it would all come back '“ that core, that essence, that talent was always there," he said.

"What I think I saw in his eyes in that match against West Indies, the moment he began that match, I said 'this guy is not getting out today'. I even told him this later because I actually was watching it on TV but you could see his eyes, you could see the calmness in his face, that sense of being secure'¦and he went on to score 97 not out, he never got out in that match," Tharoor said.

He also pointed to Samson's two subsequent semi-final and final performances of 89 runs each.

"In both those innings, he lost his wicket in a selfless act. When he got to 89, he could have said let me just graft for the next 11 runs, hit the ball along the ground, run the singles, maybe a four, but he went for the big shots because the team he felt needed quick runs and that is Sanju," Tharoor said "He is selfless, he is talented, he is dedicated. He has had the knocks, he really has had bad luck, I remember he scored a century in an ODI and got dropped after that," the Congress leader said.

This is a guy who has had to take a fair bit of unfairness and some of his exclusions were justified because he had also been inconsistent, Tharoor said.

"But three innings in a row in a World Cup, that is consistency for you. I would love to see him continue to perform on the big stage both in ODIs and T20s, and one day in a Test match too because that kind of talent deserves its fullest expression in every form of the game," Tharoor asserted.

In the recent T20 World Cup, Samson emerged as the player of the tournament with 321 runs.

He produced knocks of 97, 89 and 89 in three crucial games to help India land their third T20 World Cup, which was also the second in a row and the first by a home team.

Head coach Gambhir was chuffed with Sanju's effort and called him a special talent.

Samson's effort in the World Cup has given Kerala a cricketing icon cutting across social barriers.