India recently drubbed Zimbabwe 4-1 in the 5-match T20I series in their own backyard after some sublime and stellar performances from the entire team. After being 0-1 down in the series, Shubman Gill and co. came out all guns blazing and won the next 4 matches to win the series 4-1.
Several youngsters were given the opportunity of playing for the country and the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Riyan Parag and Tushar Deshpande, made their international debut.
Sanju Samson, who was part of the title-winning ICC T20 World Cup 2024 squad of India, but didn’t get a single game, played the last 3 T20Is for India. He replaced debutant Dhruv Jurel in the team and fared quite well.
He got chances in 2 games to bat and he scored 12*(7) and 58(45), showing no signs of rustiness after being in 3 different time zones in the past few days. Notably, Samson had returned to India for the victory celebrations and then had come to Zimbabwe.
Broadcaster Abhinav Mukund, who has previously played for Team India, has now given a massive statement on Sanju Samson while being involved in this series as a commentator and expert.
“It’s a tough place to be Sanju Samson in Indian cricket because, with all that talent, sometimes he tends to frustrate you, he doesn’t show the maturity. I feel that’s where captaining in the IPL, like he told me earlier, has really helped him because he plays with superstars but he also deals with youngsters as well like Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal,” said Abhinav Mukund to Sony Sports.
“That’s where you see his maturity as a batter come through. There is immense competition for a wicketkeeper slot in Indian cricket at the moment, and Sanju Samson has just put his hand up today and said ‘Listen, I am still here, so you better not count me out in any of these conversations’,” he added.
Sanju Samson has never cemented his spot in the Indian team
Despite being in the fray for a considerable period of time, the emergence and success of Rishabh Pant has always made Sanju Samson, the second-choice wicket-keeper of India. He has played 16 ODIs and 28 T20Is for India and is yet to represent India in the red-ball format.
Sanju Samson is also the captain of Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since the past 4 seasons. He was made the captain of Rajasthan ahead of IPL 2021 and has reached the playoffs on 2 occasions (2022 and 2024).
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