While returning from the Greenfield stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, the first thing to notice was a huge banner of Sanju Samson. Even inside the stadium, the local hero was clearly the most sought after player when it came to media houses. It says enough for us to imagine the fans thronging the stadium to watch Samson bat in the final game of the T20I series between India and New Zealand.
Unfortunately, the fluent shot-maker hasn’t looked anywhere near his best over his last 10 T20Is. Although, in Samson’s defence, he was demoted in the batting order during the Asia Cup last year. Subsequently, he was also dropped from the T20I set-up before regaining his place at the top of the order. So, it might have just affected his batting rhythm as he seemed to be in a zone of his own in the T20Is versus South Africa and Bangladesh.
On a brighter note, Samson looked in fine touch in the net session, smacking some powerful shots down the ground. He was facing sidearm throwers – both right-arm and left-arm. The idea seemed to be to bowl straighter lines, with the odd delivery leaving the right-hander on an off-stump line. One can gauge here that the right-armer was perhaps trying to simulate Matt Henry’s offerings. Even though it is difficult to account for the randomness of his wobble-seam offerings in a net session.
The wicketkeeper-bat also practiced against left-arm spin, which included Axar Patel. The backdrop to him facing left-arm spin being that he was castled by Mitchell Santner in Vizag. The right-hand batter left all three stumps and was caught in the crease. On eve of the match, however, he seemed to be cautious while being up against slow left-arm orthodox. Simply put, he wasn’t attempting to essay audacious shots by manufacturing room.
The net session involved one more wicketkeeper-bat, and that was Ishan Kishan. The left-hander, who sat out of the previous game due to a niggle, was beaten by a few nip-backers while facing a couple of seamers. To his credit, he landed a few meaty blows too. More importantly, he didn’t look in any discomfort while batting.
Sitanshu Kotak, the Indian batting coach, gave this update on Kishan’s fitness in the pre-match presser. “Very likely (he will play), at the moment, as far as I know. The physio is here for practice. So, physios will take a call. But I feel very likely,” he said. “Ishan Kishan has always been good whenever he got an opportunity. Sometimes wicketkeeper batters don’t get opportunities. But whenever Ishan has played, he has always done well. The way he played two innings was really encouraging.”
Will Kishan play in the final game? And if he plays, can he put more pressure on Samson with a knock of substance? From Samson’s perspective, this is a wonderful opportunity to make an impact in front of his adoring fans at his home ground.
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