"It's a tough place to be Sanju Samson in Indian cricket"- Former Indian batsman
Published - 15 Jul 2024, 01:07 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:15 AM
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Sanju Samson showed some form with the bat in the final T20I against Zimbabwe. He scored his second T20I fifty as he scored 58 off 45 balls with four sixes and just a single boundary.
During his innings, he added a 65-run stand with Riyan Parag (22) and took on the spinners. He took a liking to the leggie Brandon Mavuta hitting him for a 110-meter six. He hit him for another six over cover in the same over.
After Sunday''s knock of 58, Sanju Samson now has scored 444 T20I runs in 28 T20I matches at a strike rate of 133.33. His average is very low at 21.14 even after playing more than eight years of playing international cricket for India. Samson has taken his chances few and far between and consistency has been a major problem in his game.
Speaking after India's series win, Abhinav Mukund, the former Indian cricketer praised Samson's innings and said that captaining Rajasthan Royals in the IPL has helped him with his batting.
Sanju Samson Doesn't Show Maturity: Abhinav Mukund
"It's a tough place to be Sanju Samson in Indian cricket because with all that talent, sometimes he tends to frustrate you, he doesn't show the maturity. I feel that's where captaining in the IPL, like he told me earlier, has really helped him because he plays with superstars but he also deals with youngsters as well like Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal," said Mukund on Sony Sports Network.
The former Indian cricketer said that Samson after this knock has staked his claim for the wicket-keeper-batter's position for India in T20Is.
"That's where you see his maturity as a batter come through. There is immense competition for a wicketkeeper slot in Indian cricket at the moment, and Sanju Samson has just put his hand up today and said 'Listen, I am still here, so you better not count me out in any of these conversations'," Mukund said.
Tino Mawoyo, the former Zimbabwe cricketer also praised Sanju Samson's knock in the fifth T20I. He said that Samson paced his innings very well and termed it as a matured innings from the Indian keeper- batsman.
"I liked the word you used to describe his innings today - mature, because I thought that's what he was. We have seen Sanju Samson, we have seen him try and take on spinners early, sometimes it happens and it works out for him, and sometimes it doesn't. But today, I thought he was magnificent in how he paced his innings," Tino explained.
He further credited Samson for playing a few beautiful shots for sixes. He hit four total in his innings. India hit a total of 11 sixes in their innings.
"He realized that it was important for him at that stage to make sure he batted through the innings and he did that. He played two glorious strokes which he just timed, over extra cover to the spinner and the seamer. When you can play shots like that in T20 cricket, things are going very well for you because a lot of it is wanting to force the ball. He played some really good shots today," the former Zimbabwe cricketer observed.
Samson has surely bolstered his chances of getting selected in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka with this half-century in the final T20I. Samson and Rishabh Pant were the two keeper-batters in India's T20 World Cup squad. The management preferred Pant over Samson in all the matches.
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