Former India National Cricket Team batter Sanjay Manjrekar has sent a strict message to Gautam Gambhir & Co. regarding the out-of-form wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson.
Sanjay Manjrekar stated that the Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson needs to be provided backing by the team management, and he is allowed a ‘long patch of failures’.
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Sanju Samson going through a lean patch in ongoing England T20Is
The 30-year-old has been having a horror run in the ongoing five-match T20I series against England National Cricket Team. His inability to play well against quality pacers has clearly been witnessed, and the batter has received heavy criticism.
Sanju Samson has also struggled while facing the short balls, and in the first three matches of the series, he was dismissed by Jofra Archer in a similar fashion as he was troubled by bouncers.
That trend continued in the fourth T20I as well but instead of Jofra Archer, Samson fell to a short ball from the pacer Saqib Mahmood.
Samson, who has shown a lot of promise since he started opening the innings in T20Is, delivered his best performance in the series opener against the Jos Buttler-led side as he scored 26 runs.
After that, he fell for single-digit scores in the next three matches, registering scores of 5, 3, and 1. He would be keen to bounce back strong in the fifth T20I and finish the series on a high.
Such people are allowed failures and maybe a long patch of failures – Sanjay Manjrekar on Sanju Samson
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Sanjay Manjrekar asserted that Samson has played several match-winning innings for India, and he is allowed failures because he plays selflessly and takes risks while batting. He elaborated:
“When you are looking at a T20I talent, batting talent, you have got to see when they are playing well what kind of impact they can make, what contribution they can make. And you see with Sanju Samson, when he plays well, he gets an incredible hundred and puts your team in a winning position.
“So, such people are allowed failures and maybe a long patch of failures as well because that’s the nature of these as a T20 cricketer, where you can’t play yourself, where you have to keep taking those risks that they take, and hopefully there’s one innings that just propels him back into form.”
I think you should just make sure that he gets as many innings as possible – Sanjay Manjrekar
Manjrekar further said that the Gautam Gambhir-led team management needs to go out of their way to provide backing to Samson and have a lot of patience because the wicketkeeper-batsman has been a proven performer.
“So, with Sanju Samson, I think you should just make sure that he gets as many innings as possible purely because when he gets into form and plays well, he makes it all worth it.
“If that was another guy who was failing in this fashion and, when he got into form, just got you 40 or 50, then maybe you would offer him a shorter rope. But I will have a lot of patience with this current version of Sanju Samson,” he said.
