Former India opener's 'Rohit Sharma' analogy in finding solution to India's Sanju Samson conundrum

Sanju Samson did well in the ODI series against West Indies but his performance with the bat was at the opposite end of the spectrum in the T20Is

Sanju Samson made a good account of himself in the limited chances that he got during India's ODI series against West Indies. He played in only the second and third matches and while he fell for just nine runs in the former, he smashed 51 off 41 balls in the second coming in at the contentious No.4 spot. However, he played all five of the T20I matches and failed to impress with the bat. He got to bat three times in the series coming in largely in the No.5 spot and managed to score 12, 7 and 13 matches. India lost all of those matches in which he batted.

Samson's T20I career has failed to pick up since he made his debut in 2015. (AP)

Former India opener Aakash Chopra feels that India have to push Samson higher up the order if they want get the best out of him. He took the example of how captain Rohit Sharma flourished after he was made an opener in all formats of the game. "You will have to bat Sanju Samson up the order if you have to get the best out of him, irrespective of the format. You will be able to do justice to his talent only if you can bat him up the order. Maybe a very similar case with Rohit Sharma," he said on his Youtube channel.

Rohit was largely played as a middle to lower middle-order batter in his early years before being promoted to the top of the order by MS Dhoni. He ended up emerging as one of the greatest limited overs batters of his generation. Rohit's fortunes in Test cricket also turned around when he was made opener in 2021.

"When Rohit Sharma plays, he plays so beautifully and this was his story earlier as well. His numbers were not that good at the start but the team persisted. It seemed like the guy had a lot of potential and that today's potential will be converted to performance tomorrow," Chopra observed. "I feel we are trying to make him succeed in the lower-middle order but the chances are slightly less because all his numbers due to which he gets selected are either as an opener or at No. 3. His numbers have never been good at No. 4 or lower," he stated.

Sanju Samson's topsy-turvy international career

28-year-old Samson made his international debut with a T20I match against Zimbabwe in Harare in July 2015. He has played 22 T20I matches and scored just 333 runs at an average of 18.50 and a middling strike rate of 131.62. He has managed to score a half century once in his T20I career. Samson made his ODI debut in July 2021 against Sri Lanka in Colombo had has fared far better in the format. In 13 ODIs, Samson has scored 390 runs at an average of 55.71 and strike rate of 104.00.