Sanju Samson has got yet another opportunity to consolidate his place in the Indian cricket team. He is part of the Hardik Pandya-led India squad that will play two T20Is against Ireland later this month. With several other wicketkeeper-batters like Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, and the veteran Dinesh Karthik playing well with far more consistency than the 27-year-old, it is going to be a daunting task for Samson to make it to the T20 World Cup squad. Samson has time and again impressed with his abilities only to falter with his consistency.
So far, Samson has played one ODI and 13 T20Is for India scoring 46 and 174 runs respectively. Former Indian cricket team captain Sunil Gavaskar has belief in Samson's abilities but feels he needs to improve his shot selection.
"Everybody deserves more chance but you got to make the most of them. What has led Sanju Samson down, because all of us know the tremendous ability that he has, is his shot selection while playing for India. He looks to attack from the first ball and even in T20Is, there is an opportunity to get your feet going, get your eye...you know with the light and pitch, etc," Sunil Gavaskar said during the fifth T20I between India and South Africa on Sunday which was abandoned due to rain.
"So, yes if his shot selection gets better then he will be so much more consistent whether it is for India or for his franchise. Then there will be nobody asking questions about his place in the team."
Team India will play two T20Is on June 26th and 28th in Dublin.
India's T20I squad for Ireland T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik