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Cricket Players'You rated him higher, that's why you picked him earlier': Parthiv wants 27-year-old star to play ahead of Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson is a part of the T20I side that takes on Ireland in two T20Is on June 26 and 28.
After a 2-2 draw against South Africa in the five-match T20I series, the action moves to the United Kingdom where India take on Ireland in a two T20Is. With the series against Proteas perfectly poised for a decider, rain gods showed no mercy on the day of the decider as the final match of the series was washed out. In the T20I series against Ireland, all-rounder Hardik Pandya – who made a brilliant international return in the South Africa series – will be leading India.
One of the key aspects about India's outings in the series was their unchanged XI across all the five games of the series. Many players including Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, and Umran Malik among others remained on the sidelines as the same XI took the field in all five matches. For the Ireland T20Is, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer (who were part of the South Africa series) will remain absent due to their commitments with the Test team, and Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi were picked in their places.
However, former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel believes that Deepak Hooda, as well as Venkatesh Iyer, should be at the front in line to replace the outgoing Pant and Shreyas in the XI, as they had been already waiting on the sidelines.
“We always talk about Sanju Samson. There's a lot of discussion about his comeback to the team. And because he's a big name, many people also want to see him play. But here, Sanju Samson was fit and he wasn't picked, which means you rate Deepak Hooda ahead of him, that's why you picked him earlier,” Parthiv said on Cricbuzz.
"Similarily, you talk about Venkatesh Iyer. The way Ruturaj Gaikwad has batted, if you want another opener in the position, you may have someone like Rahul Tripathi who can bat in all positions but you should play Venkatesh Iyer first. You need to give opportunity, you need to be consistent. I admit that when you make a team, you can get a little excited.
“Not just here, even in the games against England, if there's a chance, you need to put Deepak and Venkatesh ahead of Samson and Tripathi,” the former Indian wicketkeeper-batter further added.
