Three Reasons Why Sanju Samson Is Not Getting A Chance

Three Reasons Why Sanju Samson Is Not Getting A Chance; It is tough to be in Sanju Samson’s shoes at the moment. The Kerala cricketer has done everything to be part of the starting XI of the Indian team, but unfortunately, something or the other has kept on denying him a place in the playing XI. Sanju Samson came to limelight with his stellar performances in the Indian Premier League for Rajasthan Royals in 2013. The 25-year old remains the youngest batsman to score 1000 runs in the IPL.

Since then, he has continued to be the solid performer for his IPL franchises and Kerala in the domestic circuit. Recently, he made headlines in the sports world with his incredible double century against Goa in Vijay Hazare Trophy. All those good performances helped him to receive the call-up, but sadly, he is yet to get an international game under his belt after making his debut in 2015. Regarding the same, we have figured out three reasons why Sanju Samson is not getting a chance in the starting XI for India. Have a look:

Three Reasons why Sanju Samson Is not getting a chance:

3. Settled Middle-order:

If Sanju Samson had received a call-up a year ago, he would have straightaway got the chance in the playing XI, with the team management testing various players in the middle-order. Now, the team got settled middle-order lineup with Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant,  and Shivam Dube. If Shikhar Dhawan returns, KL Rahul will also play in the middle-order for the team.

All the players have got the management backing and performed for the team in tough times. Shreyas Iyer has evolved as the mainstay of the team in the middle-order while Rishabh Pant got the reputation of turning the tables with his breezy knocks in the middle. With Shivam Dube, there is always an advantage of his fast bowling, which can be used in the middle overs by the skipper.

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Shreyas Iyer already played a few match-winning knocks for the team against Bangladesh and in West Indies. And also, had a sensational season under his belt for Mumbai. On the other hand, team management is trying to make the most of Shivam Dube all-round skills. Thus, Sanju Samson needs to wait to break into India’s middle-order lineup.

2. Team Management’s lack of belief in Samson:

Unfortunately, Sanju Samson is yet to get the trust of the team management. It is mainly because of his inconsistency in the domestic tournaments. Though Sanju Samson possesses extraordinary skills, he has always failed to score those runs consistently. One of the primary examples is his performances in the Indian Premier League.

Over the years, he has never had that breakthrough season, which would help him to push his case forward. Often, the stylish stroke-maker would start an IPL season with a flurry of impressive scores, only to fizzle out as the tournament progressed. Perhaps, it would have denied the management to build trust in him.

Even now, Samson continues to be one of the mainstays for Rajasthan Royals. Samson scored 2209 runs in 89 IPL games at an average of 27.61. And also, he smashed a couple of centuries.

1. Rishabh Pant – The first preference

Pant factor is massive behind the exclusion of Sanju Samson from the playing XI. Looking at the positives, being a left-hander, Rishabh Pant brings variety to the batting lineup in the middle-order. He can be the finisher for the team in the absence of MS Dhoni as well. Besides that, he is one of the few batsmen, who can straightaway attack the bowlers during crunch moments of the game.

Even the stats prove Rishabh Pant is far consistent compared to Sanju Samson. Be it the IPL or the domestic tournaments of BCCI, Rishabh Pant got better numbers than Samson. Rishabh Pant scores in IPL 2017, 2018 and 2019 read – 366, 684 and 488 while Samson’s scores in the last three seasons are – 386, 441 and 342.

On the whole, Pant averages 32 with a strike rate of 162 while Sanju Samson average 27.61 at a strike rate of 130.25. Even in Ranji Trophy, Rishabh scored staggering 972 runs in only eight games and also scored 308 against Maharashtra. On the other hand, Sanju Samson never crossed 627 runs in a single Ranji season since his debut in 2011.

Rishabh Pant even proved his mettle for the team in overseas Tests with a couple of centuries to his name in England and Australia. All these stats have helped Rishabh Pant to be the first preference for India. However, Sanju Samson will get at least one chance to prove his mettle ahead of ICC T20I World Cup 2020.