India's batting was devoid of stars like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in their recently concluded ODI series at home against South Africa but that hardly seemed to matter for them. Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson stepped up to ensure that India put up a formidable front with the bat and beat the Proteas 2-1.
While Iyer and Kishan were both impressive with the bat, Samson stood out in the way that he finally showed the kind of consistency seen from him in the IPL while playing for India. Playing in the lower middle order, Samson scored 118 runs in three matches at a strike rate of 114.56.
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Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has said that he is impressed with how Samson performed in the series. "Sanju Samson has definitely impressed me a lot. There's always a question mark on his consistency but he showed that in this series. He couldn't win India the game in the first match but finished the game in the second and remained not out in both (all three) games," said Jaffer on ESPNCricinfo.
Samson may have thrown his hat in the ring for getting selected for the 2023 World Cup alongwith Ishan Kishan. However, Jaffer warned that neither players can be played ahead of Rishabh Pant as India's first choice wicketkeeper-batter after the latter's performance in India's 2-1 series win over England away from home earlier this year. It was the last ODI series that Pant played and he ended up scoring his first limited overs century in the last match. He ended the innings unbeaten on a score of 125 off 113 balls and led India to a five wicket win in the match.
{{/usCountry}}Samson may have thrown his hat in the ring for getting selected for the 2023 World Cup alongwith Ishan Kishan. However, Jaffer warned that neither players can be played ahead of Rishabh Pant as India's first choice wicketkeeper-batter after the latter's performance in India's 2-1 series win over England away from home earlier this year. It was the last ODI series that Pant played and he ended up scoring his first limited overs century in the last match. He ended the innings unbeaten on a score of 125 off 113 balls and led India to a five wicket win in the match.
{{/usCountry}}“I feel we forget his series-winning century in England very easily. That was in one-day cricket. In T20 cricket, definitely, he's not very consistent, especially at number four and five but in Test and one-dayers, I don't think there's any opposition for him yet. Although KL Rahul can keep wickets and Sanju Samson has been impressive, I don't think you can think of replacing Rishabh Pant in one-day cricket. Sanju Samson should be in the scheme of things because of how he plays but not at the cost of Rishabh Pant,” said Jaffer.