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India hint at huge Sanju Samson move after embarrassing loss to South Africa as road to semifinal gets tougher
After India's worst T20 World Cup defeat by runs to date, chaos reigns supreme for the co-hosts ahead of their next match against Zimbabwe.
India's crushing defeat on Sunday night opened Pandora's box to all intents and purposes. Before this encounter, it appeared it would be a cake walk for India in the T20 World Cup. However, in a matter of hours, things have upended from an Indian point of view. Fans are now gripped by fear! What if their worst nightmare comes true?! The world number one team looks fragile all of the sudden, especially in their batting department.
Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma are at the centre of India's batting woes. Sanju Samson got one game in the group stages after Abhishek could not play due to a stomach bug. Once he returned to the playing XI, there wouldn't have been many who would have expected Samson to be mentioned again. Sunday's 76-run loss, India's biggest by runs to date, has changed that.
India's top order has three left-handers, Ishan Kishan (falling to off-spinner Aiden Markram), Abhishek and Tilak, and all of them were dispatched inside the Powerplay. In the match against Pakistan, it was another offie Salman Ali Agha who had sent Abhishek packing in the first over. Maybe now it's time to bring back Samson so as to bring in the left-right combination and disrupt the opposition bowlers' line and length.
No disagreement from Ryan ten Doeschate at any rate!
India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate admits it's something India need to look at over the next couple of days, before they take on Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday. The Dutchman spoke at length.
"Yeah of course we have and look in the five outings we've had now four teams have opened with part-time off spin and it's got a wicket every time apart from the USA game where we lost Abhishek without score in any case. So to start every innings zero for one, I think it's literally been zero or a couple of runs for one every time is obviously putting pressure on the link players," says Ten Doeschate.
He continues: "Tilak and Sky their role is to link up with the guys at the back end and it hasn't gone that way. Look, there's a lot of inexperience in the team and you want a settled team. These guys have done it all before. They're all fantastic players.
"So, do you stick with the guys who we feel have performed really well over the last 18 months and who are maybe shy of a few runs now? Or do we twist and bring Sanju, who's also a fantastic player and obviously helps tactically with having a right-hander at the top of the order, and I'm sure that'll be a talking point over the next few days going into these two very important games."
Who would have thought that so many uncertainties would confront Team India all of a sudden in such a short time? That's why they say the game is a great leveller.
