It has been a really hard time for Sanju Samson against the short balls during the ongoing five-match T20I series between India and England. The wicket-keeper batter has struggled badly in the first four games, thanks to 35 runs at an average of 8.75 and a strike rate of less than 100, with the best score of 26 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Sanju Samson drilled 436 runs last year in 12 T20I innings at an average of 43.60 and a strike rate of 180.17, shouldering on three centuries and one half-century at the best score of 111. The swashbuckling opener failed to get some momentum from the last year and found the short balls tough to face.
The Kerala-born was the second leading run-getter during India’s last T20I series in South Africa in November, with the help of 216 runs in four innings at an average of 72 and a strike rate of 194.59. The right-handed batter smacked 13 boundaries and 19 over boundaries.
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India’s former opening batter, Aakash Chopra, wasn’t impressed with Samson getting dismissed in the same fashion for the last four matches. Three of these dismissals were against Jofra Archer, who had been the batter’s teammate for a long time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Rajasthan Royals. This displays how he has exposed the veteran’s weakness in the technique.
Aakash Chopra was shocked by Sanju Samson’s struggles against short deliveries
During the fourth encounter at the Maharashtra Cricket Association in Pune, Samson left a lot of balls against Archer in the first ball, and as soon as Saqib Mahmood came into the attack, he made the same mistake. The wicket-keeper mistimed the pull shot straight into the hands of the deep squared leg.
“India lost the toss and got to bat first. Sanju Samson once again got out in the same fashion. I don’t want to trigger Sanju’s fan army at all, but the fact is that he has now been dismissed similarly four times.” Chopra expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
After Rohit Sharm retired from the shortest format of the game at the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States of America (USA). Samson started opening the innings against Bangladesh at home as he displayed his skills with a century in Hyderabad and registered his name in the history book by becoming the first batter to celebrate three T20I centuries in the calendar year.
Sanju Samson also failed to make the cut of the national side for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025, as the selectors went with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the two wicket-keepers. His lack of practice against the extreme pace of Mark Wood and Jofra due to his absence from Kerala in the Vijay Hazare Trophy made it a consistent issue for him.
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Despite Sanju Samson’s underwhelming performances, it is very unlikely that India would want to tinker with their opening combination at the top, given their all-out approach in the format. Their captain, Suryakumar Yadav, at the start of the series, pointed out that there won’t be any discussion on Samson’s place in the set-up.
“He got out to Saqib Mahmood’s bowling this time. So continuously in the same fashion against the short ball, finding a fielder in the deep and once caught at mid-on, thrice against Jofra Archer and once against Saqib.” Aakash Chopra remarked.
The fifth and final game of the series will take place on February 02 at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.