Ravi Shastri, a former head coach of India, pulled no punches when quizzed on Sanju Samson’s absence from India’s T20I XI. Samson finally returned to the T20I fold last night (the fifth and final match of the series against South Africa), where he came in as a replacement for an injured Shubman Gill at the top of the order.
According to Ravi Shastri, a player like Samson should consistently feature in the T20I eleven. He also lauded Samson’s past record as an opener and the qualities he has in his batting during his 22-ball 37-run innings.
“Why is he not in the side in the first place? When you see him play like this, you can’t help but wonder why it took an injury to bring him in. He is a natural fit at the top of the order. He already has three hundreds in T20 cricket, including two back-to-back hundreds against South Africa. He is explosive, dangerous and capable of shots like these. Where do you even bowl to him?” shared Shastri while commentating during the match.
Sanju Samson, making a rare appearance in an India shirt after the trip to Australia, appeared to be finding his groove in the middle. His swashbuckling knock had four fours and two sixes. The 31-year-old capitalised on the powerplay batting with Abhishek Sharma.
The Men in Blue posted 231/5 after being asked to bat first at the Narendra Modi Stadium on December 19. The remainder came principally on the backs of Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya, who added 105 for the fourth wicket off 44 balls.
South Africa began their chase brightly and were ahead at the end of the powerplay. But India took wickets at regular intervals after the tenth over of the second innings to peg back Tigers. The visitors ended on 201/8 to lose the contest, and series, by 30 runs and the margin being of 3-1. With that, the all-format series was over.
