In Pune T20I against Sri Lanka, which was the third and last T20I match of the series, Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey got the chance. It was appreciable on behalf of the captain Virat Kohli to give a chance to both of them who hadn’t played the recent matches despite being in the squad. The veteran player Shikhar Dhawan gave the reason behind providing the opportunity to the youngster.
Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey in Playing XI
The wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and the right-hand batsman Manish Pandey can be given the award of benchwarmer of the year in the recent home series. Pandey was seen in one of the T20I matches against Bangladesh, but after that, he was not included in the playing XI. Talking about Sanju Samson, included as the other option of Rishabh Pant, but was not given a chance.
Finally, in Pune, both were named in the playing XI. Rishabh Pant was dropped from the team to get in Samson. However, Samson will be disappointed, after striking a six in his very first ball but went back to the dressing room on the next delivery. Samson, who got the opportunity after four years of his T20I debut match, scored six runs in two balls.
However, Manish Pandey acted as an anchor when the middle-order batsmen got out at regular intervals. Setting up the late partnership with Shardul Thakur, he scored 31 not out in 18 balls, striking four fours.
Shikhar Dhawan gives the reason
Shikhar Dhawan, who made a comeback after one month because of an injury, scored a half-century in the third T20I match against Sri Lanka. He said that the team management wants to give the opportunity to the players to find the best combination.
“I’m sure the management wants to try players. Today also we wanted to try other players who haven’t batted in the series and give them a fair chance because we’re only left with five T20 (actually over 12) games.
“As a team, we wanted to give chance to everyone and that’s why they’ve been rotating players. Till the World Cup comes, everyone is refined and knows their job as well.
“It is more to give players (time), like how Sanju Samson came in today (at number 3), then Shreyas (Iyer), so they can get more time in the middle because it is a totally different field when you are batting in the match and having more overs and so that was the reason today,” he added.
Now, the Indian team will head to play the three-match ODI series against Australia, starting from 14th January in the home ground.