India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav didn’t shy away from explaining the rationale behind pushing Sanju Samson down in the middle order since the Asia Cup a few months ago, and his words on the eve of the IND vs SA T20I series wouldn’t have helped the Kerala cricketer’s morale.
It felt that Samson had last year cemented his spot as Abhishek Sharma’s opening partner in India’s T20I side after he blasted three centuries – one against Bangladesh in Hyderabad and two against South Africa in Durban and Johannesburg.
However, Shubman Gill returned to India’s T20I team as the vice-captain for the Asia Cup and Samson was demoted to the middle-order where there is no clarity of a batting position in the Gautam Gambhir regime. And now Samson would know no guarantee of a place either, despite staggering numbers last year.
Samson had played two crucial knocks in the Asia Cup – 39 (23) against Sri Lanka and 24 (21) in a low-scoring thriller against Pakistan in the final. And yet, after one bad knock in Australia, 2(4) on a spicy pitch in Perth where the team was bowled out for 125, Samson was out of the playing XI for the remainder of the series.
With Samson not giving much confidence to the management in the middle-order, Jitesh Sharma got the nod as a finisher, and his 22* (13) in Hobart vindicated the management’s call.
IND vs SA: Will Sanju Samson play in the India vs South Africa 1st T20I?
A day out from the first IND vs SA T20I, which will be played on Tuesday in Cuttack, captain Suryakumar all but confirmed that Jitesh will continue in the playing XI and Samson on the bench with Gill now fit to play after recovering from his neck injury.
On Samson’s situation in the T20I side, Suryakumar explained,
“Sanju, when he came into the circuit, he batted higher up the order. He did really well when he opened the innings, but Shubman had played before him in the Sri Lanka series, so he (Gill) deserves to take that spot.
“But we gave Sanju opportunities. He was ready to bat at any number, which is actually good to see a player being flexible to bat anywhere from No. 3 to 6. Both [Samson and Jitesh] are in the scheme of things. It’s always good to have lovely players like both of them. One can open, one can bat lower down the order. In fact, both can do all the roles. It’s an asset to the team and a good headache to have.”
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