SL vs IND | Sanju Samson will regret this missed opportunity, asserts Aakash Chopra
Samson in action during the Lanka tour
|Indian cricket expert Aakash Chopra was left disappointed with Sanju Samson's performance in the series-decider and stated that the gloveman will regret the missed opportunity. He added that Shikhar Dhawan will also be disappointed with his performances as he could have strengthened his case.
It won't be wrong to say that after the Indian team were left with merely five specialist batters in the last two games, it provided a great opportunity for players like Sanju Samson and the rest to emerge as heroes for the team in times of distress. However, the Indian batters performed poorly, especially, in the series-decider against Sri Lanka, on Thursday, they were toothless, undone by a sluggish pitch and the magic of Wanindu Hasaranga. Sanju Samson, the second most experienced batsman in the line-up struggled against spin and bagged a duck.
In what was a golden opportunity for him to get himself into the contention for the WT20, the right-hander managed 34 runs across three T20Is at 11.33 with a strike rate of 94.44. His 7 and 0 in the last two games, with India fielding a weakened side, was a dampener. Indian cricket expert Aakash Chopra has expressed his disappointment with Samson after publicly backing him post the second game. He said that the Kerala batter got a lot of games on the tour, yet he failed to do well and he would regret this missed opportunity.
“We always say about Sanju Samson that he is a very talented player, looks very attractive while batting and so on. Okay, he was batting out of position. But in Thursday’s match, he came in to bat in the fifth over. He should have scored runs. Wanindu Hasaranga came in and foxed him. Samson played four consecutive matches. The other youngsters were in and out of the playing XI but Samson got a longer run without a gap. He played the last ODI and all three T20Is. He scored 46 on his ODI debut but he could not come up with a good score in any of the T20Is. Sanju Samson will regret this, he let a great opportunity slip,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan also put up a poor show on Thursday night as the most experienced batter in the line-up bagged a duck, which put India on the back foot in the first over. Chopra added that he missed a chance to bolster his case for this year's T20 World Cup.
“I am sure Shikhar Dhawan would be a little disappointed. I would not say that his performance was that determining factor with regards to whether or not he would be in the T20 World Cup squad. The IPL is still to come and one cannot judge Dhawan on the basis of three T20I matches. But he could definitely have strengthened his case for the T20 World Cup by scoring more runs. Shikhar Dhawan would be gutted. And he got out (for a duck) in the deciding match.”
