Sanju Samson’s unimpressive form continued in Chennai on Thursday when India took on Zimbabwe in their T20 World Cup Super 8 Group 1 match.
The Kerala batter managed to score only 24 runs from 15 balls before being dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani in the fourth over. Samson was named in India’s playing XI against Zimbabwe in place of Rinku Singh, who had flown back to Delhi to see his unwell father.
Samson opened the innings with Abhishek Sharma, whereas Ishan Kishan batted at No.3. Samson got off to a good start as he slammed a six off just the second ball he faced. He collected one more six and another four, but he just couldn’t capitalize on the start he got off to.
In the fourth ball of the fourth over, Blessing Muzarabani delivered a slow ball. Samson made room early and attempted the slog-pull, but eventually played a mistimed shot and was caught by Ryan Burl, who came running in from deep midwicket.
Sunil Gavaskar on Sanju Samson’s struggles
Legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar noted that Samson has been caught at the deep on multiple occasions. “He’ll be disappointed with that,” Ravi Shastri said during the commentary of the match. Sunil Gavaskar analyzed Samson’s dismissal deeply, saying:
“He will be disappointed because he has got out so many times in that region. Everybody knows-bowl short, have a deep square leg. And again, it is the height of Muzarabani that allowed the ball to bounce a little bit more.
“That’s why it wasn’t quite off the middle of the bat. And so he got off to a very good start, 24 off 15. But he’s holed out in the deep once again. And India have lost their first wicket at 48,” he added.
Samson has fallen out of favor in the Indian team, with Ishan Kishan being preferred instead. Kishan has scored two half-centuries in the ongoing T20 World Cup so far, aggregating 214 runs from six matches.
He is currently India’s highest run-scorer in this tournament. Samson, on the other hand, was playing his first match of this T20 World Cup on Thursday.
Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to field, but that decision proved to be costly as the Men in Blue went on to post 256/4 from 20 overs. Abhishek Sharma (55) and Hardik Pandya (50*) scored fifties, whereas Ishan Kishan (38), Suryakumar Yadav (33) and Tilak Varma (44*) also made valuable contributions.
This is a must-win match for India, who lost their first Super 8 match against South Africa by 76 runs. India, the defending champions, need to beat both Zimbabwe and West Indies (1 March) in order to qualify for the semi-finals.
