Since Shubman Gill has been reintroduced into the T20I side, Sanju Samson, who has been opening, has been demoted from his opening slot for the Asia Cup. Since then, Samson has been moving up and down in the batting order depending on the situation. Former Indian selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth said the constant shuffling of Samson’s number has been detrimental to his confidence.
“I don’t understand what they are doing with Sanju Samson. He bats at 5 one game, then suddenly at 4, 6, 7, or 8. And in this match, he bats at 3. That is not fair, you’ve to give a fixed position. Mentally, only then can a batsman make up his mind. You can’t just keep shuffling the batting order. You are spoiling that boy’s confidence, which is not fair,” he said on his YouTube channel.
In the 2nd T20I on a pitch that was assisting fast bowlers, Samson came at number three and managed to score two runs. “Sending him at No. 3 was a knee-jerk reaction. They sent him there once the ball was moving around, and he also couldn’t do anything. You are spoiling the balance of the team; forget about the individual. Just because there was some zip in the wicket, you sent Sanju out to bat and he got out immediately,” said Srikkanth.”
“He must not have even had his pads ready, and thought Suryakumar Yadav would go out at 3, followed by Tilak Varma at 4 and himself at 5. As soon as they saw the ball move around, Sanju was told to go out at 3. How’s that possible? Doesn’t a batter need a mental makeup?”
“India needs to stop playing musical chairs with their batting order. They would have had a great chance of winning if they had scored 160 to 170. Didn’t Suryakumar Yadav play well at No. 3 in the last match? He was not out as well. Then why send Sanju Samson at No. 3?” said Sadagoppan Ramesh on his YouTube channel.
