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'He has had enough chances, when will he score?': Ex-Pakistan star scathes through Sanju Samson for low returns vs WI
Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, like many other followers of the game, was disappointed with Sanju Samson's inconsistency.
Time is running out for Sanju Samson. Pakistan have already announced their squad for Asia Cup and India too will name theirs by next week. Before that, Samson is likely to get two more cracks in the remaining T20Is against the West Indies to convince the selectors that he is good enough to be picked in India's Asia Cup squad and moreover, be in the reckoning for the World Cup 2023 squad. The focus on Samson and Suryakumar Yadav has increased as there is still no confirmation on the availability of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. While the latter has shown great progress in the last couple of weeks and looks set to be India's preferred keeper-batter in Asia Cup and World Cup, Iyer, the first-choice for the No.4 slot is doubtful, at least for the Asia Cup.
That is where Samson and Suryakumar come in. Both SKY and Samson have not put together consistent performances in ODIs but SKY has the edge over Samson because of his superior T20I returns. That's exactly why Samson needs to make his chances count in the opportunities he gets. And so far, apart from a quickfire half-century in the 3rd ODI, he hasn't.
Samson has played four innings - two ODIs and two T20Is - against the West Indies so far and his returns have been 9, 51, 12 and 7. These surely won't be enough to get him in the Asia Cup and World Cup squads.
Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, like many other followers of the game, was disappointed with Samson's inconsistency. Kaneria said Samson has had enough chances and it was high time the Rajasthan Royals captain, who is full of talent, starts scoring regularly.
“India rested Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli so that they could give others a chance, as many have complained that a few players haven’t had enough opportunities. Now that India has played them, when are you going to score runs, Sanju Samson?” Kaneria said on his YouTube channel. "He has had enough chances now. I was among the people who supported him and wanted him to get consistent opportunities. However, he hasn’t made the most of these chances,” he added.
Samson was given the gloves in the third T20I in Guyana as India decided to rest Ishan Kishan and handed debut to Yashasvi Jaiswal. Samson's glovework, however, was not up to the mark. He fumbled quite a few times against Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
The right-hander from Kerala will be looking to put his best foot forward in the fourth T20I in Florida. The Indian team management, for their part, could look to promote Samson so that he gets more deliveries to showcase his talent. So far he has been batting at No.6 in this T20I series, which is a bit too low for his standards.
