India Coach Gives Blunt Verdict On Sanju Samson's Lack Of Form: "One Knock Away"

The struggling Sanju Samson on Tuesday received a big vote of confidence as bowling coach Morne Morkel said the opener was just one knock away from breaking free from a lean run. Samson has so far made just 16 runs in three T20Is with a highest of 10 when other top-order batters like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav were punishing the New Zealand bowlers. "Sanju is one knock away from getting that confidence, getting that form back. For us, building up to the World Cup it's important for the guys to find that peak performance at the right time. He's training well, he's hitting the ball very well," Morkel said on the eve of the fourth T20I.

Despite it being an optional nets, Samson spent more than 30 minutes at nets facing various bowlers such as Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Abhishek and side-armer Raghu.

After an initial few minutes of struggle, the familiar Samson surfaced with him sending the ball to the far corners of ACA-VDCA Stadium.

The Kerala batter then proceeded to have a long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on the sides of nets where Shreyas Iyer went about his task.

They were seen patiently explaining a few things to the beleaguered batter.

Fittingly, Morkel was not overly worried about Samson's form and said team's victory mattered more than individual efforts.

"So, I think it's just a matter of time for him to get his foot on the board. But the main focus is that the team is winning, and I think that's important. We're 3-0 up in this series at the moment, the boys are playing some very good cricket.

"We've got a couple of games now before the start of the World Cup, and I have no doubt that Sanju will find his form," added the South African.

Topics mentioned in this article

Sanju Samson Morne Morkel India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team India vs New Zealand 2026 Cricket