On the face of it, Sanju Samson playing the third T20I against Afghanistan, a dead rubber, was tokenism. Come June, and he is unlikely to be on the plane to the United States and the Caribbean for the T20 World Cup. Jitesh Sharma, the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in the Indian squad for the series against Afghanistan, was dropped for the sake of rotation. It would have been better to give him three games at a stretch, for the 30-year-old is a contender for a World Cup berth.
From Samson’s perspective, the team management’s decision gave him another opportunity to make a statement. As is his wont, Samson failed. He had a golden duck to show for, the result of a poor shot on a surface where the ball was sticking and not coming on to the bat in the first few overs.
A meme on X, posted as a light-hearted banter by a netizen, told the hard truth: “Ab toh chances na milne ka bhi excuse nahi de sakta (he can no longer use a lack of opportunity as an excuse).” Samson is a busted flush in the shortest format. The 29-year-old has failed to bridge the gap between the IPL and T20Is, and it could well be over for him as far as international cricket (T20s) is concerned.
Samson wouldn’t have been in the squad in the first place if Ishan Kishan were picked. The latter was dropped for reasons not related to cricket. It, however, meant that Samson got one more opportunity which he let slip through his fingers. Inconsistency has proven to be his Achilles heel and it is basically down to poor shot selection and his apparent inability to read the situation.
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His dismissal on Wednesday was another case in point. India were on 22/3 in the fifth over, the Afghanistan seamers were moving the ball, the Chinnaswamy pitch had a bit of a grass cover and a few cracks underneath that, and the ball was initially sitting in the surface. The first ball that Samson faced was a short-of-a-length delivery from Fareed Ahmad and the batsman had a wild swing at it. The top edge went to Mohammad Nabi at cover.
With India under pressure, Samson had the licence to play himself in and read the conditions before breaking free. He was playing his 25th T20I. He has also played 16 ODIs. In the 50-over format, his average is 55.66. Very recently, he scored a century against South Africa at Paarl. But Samson has been a letdown in the shortest form, with an average 19.68. His dismissal showed a lack of game awareness, something that Rinku Singh, a spring chicken in international cricket, possesses in plenty.
From 22/4 for India went on to post 212/4 and Rinku’s contribution in an unbroken 190-run partnership with Rohit Sharma was 69 off 39 balls. The youngster started with three dot balls, never looked to be in a hurry and at the end of the ninth over, he was batting on 11 off 12 deliveries. Rohit was steadily upping the ante at the other end and Rinku smartly played second fiddle to his skipper. Only in the final three overs did he go full throttle, including three consecutive sixes against Karim Janat in the last over. It would be a travesty if Rinku doesn’t go to the T20 World Cup.
Back to Samson, and after his failure in the T20Is against the West Indies last year — scores of 12, 7 and 13 — he was lucky to get another opportunity. Yes, it’s not easy to get games on and off and score instantly, but that’s the nature of the beast, given India’s vast talent pool. His talent notwithstanding, Samson has failed to live up to expectations.
More importantly, who could be India’s two ’keeper-batters at the T20 World Cup? A lot will depend on Rishabh Pant’s recovery. Jitesh, of course, is a strong contender and it would be unwise to rule KL Rahul out.
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