Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that if Sanju Samson is to have a shot at prolonging his India career, the Rajasthan Royals captain needs to be more consistent with his scores and get better at his shot selection. Samson made his India debut back in 2015 but has only featured in one ODI and 10 T20Is so far. The Kerala batsman has been among the runs in the IPL but even there, his numbers are mostly in the extremes.
Gavaskar reckons that shot-selection has been Samson's biggest bane and feels the batsman needs to curb his attacking instincts right from the word go.
"What has led him down is the shot selection. Even at the international level, he doesn't open the batting there. He was the second or the third wicket down. And he looks to hit the first ball out of the ground. That is impossible. That is absolutely impossible even if you've been in the richest vein of form. You have got to maybe knock it around for maybe twos and threes and get the feet moving and then look to play," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Samson has already hit a century in IPL 2021 – in the first half when the tournament was played in India. On Tuesday, Samson failed with the bat, scoring four. Gavaskar adds that Samson needs to give himself more time and only by working on the selection of his shots can he improve his temperament, which the former India captain suggests can make him a batsman of different class.
{{/usCountry}}Samson has already hit a century in IPL 2021 – in the first half when the tournament was played in India. On Tuesday, Samson failed with the bat, scoring four. Gavaskar adds that Samson needs to give himself more time and only by working on the selection of his shots can he improve his temperament, which the former India captain suggests can make him a batsman of different class.
{{/usCountry}}"That is something he is going to watch out for. Because otherwise, it is going to be a waste of such God-given talent. I have always said that a lot of shot selection boils down to temperament. That is what separates the men from the boys. And therefore, for him to go on and be a regular player for India, his shot selection has to be that much better," said Gavaskar.