Sanju Samson IPL 2022 stats: Why Sanju Samson not in Indian team for T20 series vs South Africa?

Sanju Samson IPL 2022 stats: The captain of Rajasthan Royals has played an impact-generating knock at the Eden Gardens tonight.

During Qualifier 1 of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson propelled his team to a quickfire start after asked to bat first by Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya.

Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the third over, Samson scored 47 (26) with the help of five fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 180.76 to not let their innings get affected by opening batters’ nervous start.

Facing his first ball being bowled by GT pacer Yash Dayal, Samson pressed forward to hit an elegant and effortless six over long-on to get off the mark. In the following over, Samson hit Mohammed Shami for a couple of boundaries to further gain advantage in the powerplay.

The sixth over witnessed Samson hitting a couple of sixes off Alzarri Joseph as Royals scored 55/1 in six overs. With neither him not opening batter Jos Buttler managing to score a boundary off Rashid Khan in the seventh over, Samson attacked Sai Kishore to hit him for a couple of fours in the next over.

That being said, it was Samson’s attempt of taking on Sai Kishore in his second over that led to his dismissal. Failing to hit the left-arm spinner inside out, Samson had to walk off the ground after Joseph completed an easy catch at long-on.

Sanju Samson IPL 2022 stats

Second-highest run-scorer for Rajasthan this season, Samson has jumped quite some spots to become the sixth highest run-scorer of the season.

In 17 innings including this knock, Samson has scored 458 runs at an average of 28.62 and a strike rate of 146.79 including a couple of half-centuries.

Why Sanju Samson not in Indian team for T20 series vs South Africa?

Samson, who has a point to prove after his non-selection in the Indian T20I squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against South Africa, seems to have started well in his response in an ICC T20 World Cup year. Hence, more chances of earning a comeback for him.

In the absence of a press conference by the selection committee, exact reason behind Samson’s exclusion from the squad remains unknown. Having said that, two common observations from an 18-member squad is the selectors looking to give a longer rope to players who were already playing for India before IPL 2022 and selecting players according to the traditional criteria (most runs).

While there’s nothing wrong with this criteria especially in Tests and ODIs, T20Is can be an exception where a player with a better strike rate can be preferred ahead of the highest run-scorer. Considering how strike rate has it in it to change the course of a T20, perhaps selectors can adapt accordingly to be in line with their counterparts.