Former India opener Wasim Jaffer is quite disappointed for Sanju Samson as he couldn’t convert his starts into big ones. Sanju Samson was given a chance in T20Is after a gap of 6 months. In the first match, he didn’t get a chance to bat but in the rest of the two matches, he played the cameos of 39(25) and 18(12).
India clean swept the 3-match series against Sri Lanka and retained their number 1 position in the ICC ranking.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo after the match, Wasim Jaffer said that Sanju Samson lost two big opportunities to stake his claim in the team for the T20 World Cup.
“He obviously hasn’t grabbed his opportunities. Yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday)’s game was a good, good opportunity for him to stake his claim as a third wicketkeeping option or as a batter.
“He shows a lot of promise, he does show the glimpse of what he can do but just doesn’t take the opportunity that other guys have taken. So I really feel sad because I think he’s got a lot to offer in this format especially,” Wasim Jaffer said.
Though he still thinks that Rahul Dravid & Co. will have in the mix and these cameos definitely made some impression.
“But I think he’s definitely in the scheme of things. I don’t think this Indian team setup will mind that he’s got the 30s but they would definitely see that he’s around for sure,” he added.
“They’ve given the freedom to players which is very good to see”- Wasim Jaffer
Jaffer also observed that the Indian batting line-up is playing more expressive cricket as they are not conservative in their approach. Skipper Rohit Sharma himself is leading the charge and this might be the template they want to go forward in this format.
“That was very visible after the T20 World Cup, that they don’t want to take that defensive approach. I mean, that’s what we’ve seen with Rohit Sharma’s batting as well. Generally, you’d see Rohit Sharma coming in and taking his time when the other guys KL Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan, they’ll take charge,” Jaffer said.
“But now he’s taken that onus on himself and it’s very unlike him. So it might not come off very often but I like the approach, I like the template they’ve set and I think it’s going to give dividends. They’ve given the freedom to players which is very good to see and it’s in a very good state,” he added.