Stats Show Why Rishabh Pant Is Being Preferred Ahead Of Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson’s surprising omission from India’s T20I squad has firmly put the spotlight on Rishabh Pant. Pant has been retained for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against West Indies and really needs to make the chance count as pressure is piling up on him. While the selectors have made it clear that they would back Pant, another failure for the youngster would only pile pressure on both the parties.

Talking about Sanju Samson, he was definitely a surprising omission from the squad.The Kerala star was a part of the last T20I series against Bangladesh but had not got a single chance to prove himself. It was his first recall from the national selectors since he was dropped from the team in 2015.

But much to everyone’s surprise, the selectors decided to give up on Sanju Samson at least for the time being without even giving him a chance. Sanju Samson had earned that call after his consistent performances in domestic circuit including a double-century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

The comparison:

Sanju Samson’s axing has put Pant in the spotlight with many questioning his spot in the team as well as the selectors’ decision to back him ahead of the Kerala man. Well, one of the reasons that could have convinced the selectors to pick Pant ahead of Samson is their records in T20s. Pant made his debut in IPL in 2016 and has been a better performer than Samson since then.

His scores in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 read – 366, 684 and 488. On the other hand, Samson’s scores in the last three seasons are – 386, 441 and 342. Overall, Pant has scored his runs at an average of more than 32 and strike-rate of over 162. Samson, on the other hand, averages a modest 27.61 and has a strike-rate of just over 130.

One should also point out the 2016-17 season when Pant put himself ahead in the pecking order after enjoying a breakthrough year. After starring in the U19 World Cup, he had taken the domestic cricket by storm. The southpaw finished Ranji Trophy with a staggering 972 runs in only 8 outings including four centuries and a couple of the fifties. His highest score was a belligerent 308 off 326 balls against Maharashtra.

On the other hand, Sanju Samson hasn’t scored more than 627 runs in a single Ranji Trophy season since making his first-class debut way back in 2011. While Samson has showed his class in IPL by dealing with world-class bowlers with utmost ease, he has not really stamped his authority in domestic arena. While Pant scored the fastest-ever ton in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy’s history last year, Samson failed to score a single century across formats in 2018. All these stats pretty much make it clear why the selectors are backing Pant more than Samson.