Indian National Cricket Team wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson, 29, could not perform well with the bat in the second T20I of the three-match series against the Charith Asalanka-led Sri Lanka National Cricket Team at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on Sunday, July 28.
Sanju Samson was not the first-choice player for the Indian team in the T20I series against Sri Lanka despite fans expecting him to get a longer rope under the new regime of Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav.
Samson was not included in the playing XI in the first T20I and Riyan Parag was preferred over him as India won that game clearly by 43 runs.
However, Sanju Samson was brought back into the playing XI in the second game due to the unavailability of the team’s vice-captain Shubman Gill. At the toss, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the star opening batsman woke up with a neck spasm and hence, he was replaced by Sanju Samson in the line-up.
The star wicketkeeper-batsman was also given the opening berth by Gill and came out to bat with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Just after 3 balls into India’s innings, rain interrupted play. After a long delay when play resumed, the playing conditions were reviewed. India was given the target of 78 runs to chase in 8 overs.
Many expected Sanju Samson to be the star of the game as the match was at a stage where he needed to display his natural aggressive play. However, the wicket-keeper-batsman once again disappointed his fans.
On the first ball of the second over, Sri Lankan bowler Maheesh Theekshana came out to bowl and castled Sanju Samson. The bowler bowled a carrom ball which kept drifting in. Samson did not move his feet and looked to defend it, leading him to leave a gap where the ball slipped through and hit the middle stump.
Sanju Samson was dropped and once again faced a strong backlash online as fans called for his immediate removal from the starting XI. With his failure in the match, Samson is very likely to lose his place in the starting XI in the final match of the series.
Watch: Sanju Samson fails to be castled by a golden duck
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— Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) July 28, 2024
In total, Sanju Samson has played 29 T20I matches for the Indian National Cricket Team. In those matches, the Kerala star has scored 444 runs at a poor average of 20.18 and a strike rate of 132.93. Moreover, he has scored just 2 fifties for the team in the shortest format of the game.
Talking about the match, the Indian team easily completed the chase and won the match by 7 wickets. With this win, the Men In Blue also claimed an unassailable 2-0 in the three-match series. This was Gautam Gambhir’s first series win as the head coach of the Indian team and he would be keen to continue this winning momentum.