"Support Can Fade Quickly": Ex-India Star Raises Huge Concern For Sanju Samson

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has raised concerns regarding the position of Sanju Samson in the T20I team. Samson was India's opener in the format before the team management named Shubman Gill as vice-captain and then slotted him as Abhishek Sharma's partner to open the innings ahead of Asia Cup this year. This saw Samson being pushed down the batting order. Meanwhile, India continue to shuffle the batting positions of the players. While admitting that flexibility is required in the team's batting line-up in the shortest format, Pathan said that the constant changes should not be extreme. He added that this is an area the team needs to focus on.

"As for Sanju Samson, if he keeps moving up and down the batting order like this, I'm not sure (how effective that will be). I know that in T20 cricket, apart from the openers, no one really has a fixed position and flexibility is important. But in the name of flexibility, you shouldn't become so elastic that you lose the stability that comes with having defined roles. That's something the Indian team really needs to pay attention to," said Pathan on his YouTube channel.

"When you keep changing a player's role repeatedly, things naturally change. Playing against the older ball in the middle overs, which Sanju Samson did during the Asia Cup, is very different from opening the innings, where he had scored three centuries. It requires a different mindset and a lot of mental strength, along with strong backing from the team," he added.

Pathan pointed out that Samson is getting the required support from the team management, but raised a concern. He said that the constant change in batting order could hamper Samson's batting and that might see the team look beyond him.

"It does seem that Sanju Samson is getting that support right now, because even though Shubman Gill has returned as an opener, Samson has still been included in the team and is being trusted to bat in the middle order. There's no doubt he's getting the support he needs. But that support can fade quickly if a player has three or four failures in a row. Hopefully, that won't happen with Sanju Samson," he said.

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Cricket India Cricket Team Australia Cricket Team Australia vs India 2025 Sanju Samson Irfan Pathan