Wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson not finding a spot in a 17-member Indian Asia Cup 2023 squad made him entice immense support across social media platforms with respect to his non-selection in spite of praiseworthy form in the format of late. Taking into consideration Samson’s fan-following, online backing resulting in criticism for head coach Rahul Dravid wasn’t surprising by any means.
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As a result, Samson is warming the bench in the ongoing third match of the tournament against Pakistan at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. While wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan has justified his selection as injured KL Rahul‘s replacement to perfection thus far, even Samson would’ve been an apt candidate to keep wickets and bat at No. 5.
Sanju Samson Was Expected To Warm The Bench As a Travelling Standby Player
With an average and strike rate of 55.71 and 104 respectively across 12 ODI innings, Samson could’ve easily been preferred ahead of the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.
However, as a travelling standby player, there was never a chance for the right-handed batter to be playing in place of Rahul for the first two matches of the tournament. Hence, Samson had no option than to watch the proceedings from the dressing room with Pakistani pacers causing yet another Indian top-order collapse. For Samson to be included into the squad, Rahul had to be officially ruled out of Asia Cup 2023.
Currently into his ninth year as an international cricketer, Samson has played a total of 37 limited-overs matches for India. With all these matches coming as bilateral contests, the 28-year old player is yet to participate in a multi-team tournament such as the Asia Cup or an ICC World Cup. That being said, as an U-19 cricketer back in the day, Samson had registered a successful Asia Cup participation for India.
Sanju Samson Had Scored Century To Power India U-19 To Asia Cup Title vs Pakistan
For the unversed, Samson is one of the rare cricketers to have played with two batches of India’s U-19 squad. Having represented the colts thrice just over three months before ICC U-19 World Cup 2012, Samson wasn’t part of the national squad for what had turned out to be a victorious world event 11 years ago.
A year after his third India U-19 appearance, Samson was part of the squad which had toured Australia for Top End U-19 Series 2013. In what was Samson’s solitary century in the format, it had come in the final of U-19 Asia Cup against Pakistan in the first week of 2014.
Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 14th over at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Samson had shared a match-winning 180-run third-wicket partnership alongside captain Vijay Zol. While both the batters had scored exactly 100, Samson’s century had come at a strike rate of 114.94 on the back of eight fours and four sixes.
“[Sanju Samson] has been a great mate of mine, and that partnership we had today had been expected throughout the tournament,” Zol had said after winning the Man of the Match award.
India, who had scored 314/8 in 50 overs, secured a 40-run victory by reducing a Pakistani batting unit comprising Sami Aslam, Imam-ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel to 274/9.
Although India hadn’t done that well in the U-19 World Cup played in the same country the following month, it is noteworthy that Samson was their highest run-scorer for amassing 267 runs across six innings at an average of 44.50 and a strike rate of 96.73 including three half-centuries.
