Former India National Cricket Team opener Aakash Chopra has highlighted the extremely ordinary performance of the star wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson against express pace.
Aakash Chopra said that Sanju Samson’s inability to play express pace is a cause of concern as he mentioned how the strike rate of the batter goes down against the pacers.
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Sanju Samson failed in the first two T20Is against England
The star Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson has not got off to a good start in T20I cricket in 2025. Since he started opening the innings, he has had sensational form with the bat and has scored three brilliant centuries.
Samson got full support from head coach Gautam Gambhir and T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and he made sure to repay the faith of the duo.
However, the opening batter is yet to fire in the ongoing five-match T20I series against the Three Lions. In the first match at Eden Gardens, he scored 26 runs off 20 balls, with 4 fours and 1 six, before being dismissed by the speedster Jofra Archer.
In the second T20I in Chennai, he didn’t look comfortable out in the middle during the run-chase and managed just 5 runs of 7 balls, before Archer once again dismissed him.
His performance has been extremely ordinary – Aakash Chopra on Samson
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra noticed a major flaw in Samson’s batting as he said on his YouTube channel that the wicketkeeper-batsman struggles against express pace.
Chopra said that they dug some stats and found out that Samson fails to score runs when facing a delivery of over 140 kmph, and his strike rate also goes down.
“Abhishek Sharma got out. He scored runs in the last match. So we won’t talk a lot about him. Our stats team came out with a stat on how Sanju Samson has performed when the ball’s speed is more than 140 kph. His performance has been extremely ordinary. He hasn’t scored runs and has lost his wicket as well,” he said.
“His strike rate is very low. He is going deep inside the crease and going a little towards square leg. The bowlers are bowling bouncers and laying a trap by keeping a fielder in the deep. He has been caught in the deep twice in two matches. It is just a talking point right now,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
The story of centuries and ducks was ongoing, which is okay, but… – Aakash Chopra
The former India opener further said that Sanju Samson has legitimate problems against pace and bounce and he needs to address these issues. He elaborated:
“He has scored three centuries if we see the five matches before this series.
“The story of centuries and ducks was ongoing, which is okay, but if this is his response to serious pace bowling, if you remove that 22-run over of Gus Atkinson (in the first T20I) since you want to improve, you will realize he hasn’t scored too many runs, and he is having problems against pace and bouncers.”
