Sydney: India have bounced back impressively on their tour of Australia winning the T20I series 2-1. In the absence of the likes of Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah in the shortest format, Hardik Pandya, T Natarajan, and Shikhar Dhawan have stepped up when it mattered the most.
However, there is still one concern for India. The team management has given chances to youngster Sanju Samson in the first two T20Is but he has failed to grab them. Former Indian batsman and cricket expert Mohammad Kaif believes that Samson is not making the most of his opportunities.
Kaif believes that Samson has an X-factor and the ability to hit sixes at will. “According to me, we have won the series. He has got two innings and in the first T20I, Sanju Samson was looking good. It felt like he could score runs. And he has the X-factor, he has the ability to hit sixes, yes, he is frittering away his chances. He is new and will get more chances although he has not grasped his chances like Natarajan has done. That has not happened with Sanju Samson but I feel he should get more chances.” Kaif said.
Kaif wants Samson to learn from Kohli how to build innings as he wasting his chances in the India jersey. “If Samson gets the opportunity now, then he should take the example from Virat Kohli in the middle. Virat Kohli is a player who also makes the runs through singles and doubles. You can hit the sixes but he needs to learn from Virat Kohli on how to build an innings,” he added.
Earlier, Virender Sehwag was also in favour of more chances being given to Samson. “I don’t think there is a need to make forced changes. But they may want to play Manish Pandey if he is fit, but for whom will they play him. I can see only one candidate, Sanju Samson has had two games and he has not scored runs. So, Virat Kohli has the habit of making changes after two games, so it is possible he could be the one.” Sehwag said.
