Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Sanjay Samson’s century puts him in competition for a berth in India’s first-choice ODI team in the future, even though he is not high on the pecking order for the 2024 T20 World Cup. The 29-year-old scored a brilliant century in the third ODI to help India win the series.
Sanju Samson batted carefully at the start of his innings but gathered confidence in the middle overs on a challenging surface to score his first century in International Cricket. After failing to deliver in the second ODI, Samson was sent up to bat higher up the order, as he made a statement by hitting a century on the overseas conditions.
Speaking on Espncricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Sanju Samson has matured in international cricket after years of hard work in domestic cricket and that his innings against South Africa will be remembered for a long time.
“Sanju Samson at this age after so many years at the first-class level, has come of age at the international level. I know this was an ODI series, people will forget the result of the series. But the way he batted – came in the fourth over, got to his 100 in the 44th over. That is something people wanted to see from Sanju Samson and they saw it,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
Sanju Samson is an aggressive batter, who typically bats in the finisher role for India in white-ball cricket. However, in the third ODI, the wicketkeeper-batter was elevated to number three and delivered an outstanding performance to help India post a respectable total in the game.
The Selectors and The Team Management Will Not Forget It – Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar believes the team management and selectors will remember Sanju Samson’s knock for a long time and feels that he might be in the first-choice ODI squad for future events, given his consistent performance in the ODI Cricket.
“So, what that hundred, that innings and the way he played, has done is, the selectors and the team management will not forget it. And that is the reason Sanju Samson was in the squad against expectation. Whenever there is a need to pick up a 50-over side, Sanju Samson will be very close to the playing 11,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
He will next be seen playing for his state team Kerala in the 2024 Ranji Trophy, and he is expected to be called up to India’s T20I team for a three-match series against Afghanistan followed by the Indian Premier League, where he could captain Rajasthan Royals in the cash-rich league.
