Indian opener Sanju Samson was brought back into the eleven as an opening batsman after the selector board planned to drop Shubman Gill due to his poor form in the shortest format of the game. However, Samson has also been a big upset for India in the series against New Zealand, which marks the final preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
India lost their first match of the T20 series in yesterday’s clash in Visakhapatnam. India suffered a bitter miss in the ODI series as the Blackcaps defeated the Men in Blue by a 2-1 margin after consecutive defeats in Rajkot and Indore.
Coming into the T20I series, the head coach’s morale was boosted as Suryakumar Yadav led the Men in Blue to another series win. The captain himself led from the front while Abhishek Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh and Ishan Kishan all gave their best performances.
Sanju Samson failed again; Departure after a good start in the fourth T20I against New Zealand
Indian wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Samson was benched for most of the Australia tour and South Africa T20I series. However, the right-handed batsman made a comeback in the final game of the South Africa series.
After Shubman Gill scored only 291 runs in 15 T20I innings, Samson was cited as India’s opening batsman for the ICC T20 World Cup; However, the wicketkeeper has failed to perform as per the belief of the selectors. He has worn out under pressure and there has been a glaring flaw in his batting style.
With the World Cup knocking on the door, Samson has scored 10, 6, 0 and 24 in four matches against New Zealand. After a good start against the Kiwis in Visakhapatnam, he was out at a crucial juncture of the game, leaving the team in dire straits.
Sunil Gavaskar revealed Sanju Samson’s biggest flaw!
Now people also know the weaknesses of Sanju Samson. In the first game he was out on the leg attempting to pull a short-pitched ball, and then his wide stance and lack of footwork resulted in him being clean bowled by the Kiwi bowlers, who targeted only three stumps.
Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, who was present on commentary during Sanju Samson’s innings in Visakhapatnam, also pointed towards the same. He barely moved his feet and delivered three runs to Mitchell Santner, leaving his stumps shaken.
“My first impression was that there was no footwork. Not sure if there was any turn or not. My first impression was that he was just standing in space and playing through the off side,” Gavaskar said in the commentary.
Gavaskar also pointed out that Samson has been very deliberate while choosing his shots. He is almost sending a telegram to the bowler even before he reaches the crease to bowl and hence the bowlers are dismissing him easily.
Gavaskar said, “As I said, hardly any foot movement. Going outside the leg-stump, once again exposing all three stumps, and when you miss, the bowler will hit, and that’s what happened with Sanju Samson for the second time.”
New Zealand handed India its first defeat of the series in Visakhapatnam.
India was unbeatable in the series till now. However, after putting up a good opening partnership, the Kiwis posted a mammoth score of 215 runs on the board and the Indians had to chase it down with only 6 specialist batsmen.
Two in-form batsmen, Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav were out early, while Ishan Kishan was not a part of the eleven for this match. A brief partnership between Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh took them to the powerplay, but not long after, Samson was dismissed by Santner.
Slender left-handed batsman Shivam Dubey has shown some glimpses of excellent batting. He remained unbeaten in the second T20I win in Raipur and then played a brilliant inning of 65 runs in 23 balls in Visakhapatnam. His innings came when wickets kept falling from the other end.
Dubey was clearing the fence with ease and never seemed in a mood to give up the chase so easily; However, he faltered just once, and Matt Henry immediately seized the opportunity to run him out. This ended India’s hopes and New Zealand won their first match of the series by 50 runs.
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