India wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson (13) is facing the brunt of severe criticism on social media platform Twitter on the back of failing in the ongoing fourth T20I against West Indies in Lauderhill. A batter who is being looked upon as a potential middle-order batter in the Indian ODI squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, Samson failing for the third time in the series less than two months before the tournament is concerning.
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With his spot in the ODI squad not guaranteed at the moment, Samson is hurting his own chances due to inconsistent performances in white-ball formats. Not that he has looked out of form but anyone in his position can’t afford to return with three failures in a row.
Samson, who had scored an eye-catching third ODI half-century in the final ODI in Tarouba less than two weeks ago, has scored just 32 runs at an average and strike rate of 10.66 and 114.28 respectively in the T20I series.
Sanju Samson Trolled On Twitter For Underperforming Less Than 2 Months Before ODI World Cup
In spite of captain Hardik Pandya (13) sacrificing the No. 5 spot for Samson in his last two innings, the latter not being able to leave a mark has already started to test fans’ patience. “Wasting opportunities” has emerged as a common remark for Samson’s observers of late.
Samson, who hit a couple of boundaries during the course of his nine-ball stay at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground today, once again played an ordinary shot to gift his wicket to the opposition.
It all happened right after the halfway mark when Samson was looking at guiding a Romario Shepherd (4/31) delivery towards the third-man region. In the process, all the right-handed batter did was edge it to former West Indian captain Nicholas Pooran behind the stumps.
At this point, Sanju Samson is only wasting his AND everyone else’s time. #WIvsIND
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) August 13, 2023
No matter how talented you are, how big an intent you are, you have to score runs consistently when playing for India. If not big runs consistently then high impact knocks are a must. #SanjuSamson is doing nothing but wasting these opportunities.#WIvIND
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) August 13, 2023
These are valuable opportunities that he hasn’t been able to make count Sanju Samson. Defines his career despite all the talent. You think he is looking good and then a false shot. @RevSportz #INDvWI
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) August 13, 2023
Sanju Samson pic.twitter.com/KM0B3rRksS
— Abhishek (@be_mewadi) August 13, 2023
Sanju samson 😿😿 pic.twitter.com/Y2ahA3PQVT
— Anoop 🇮🇳 (@ianooop) August 13, 2023
Should T20I Performances Be Counted For ODI Selection?
In an ideal and format-specific world, no. That being said, neither are we living in an ideal world nor do the Indian selectors care much about differentiating between different formats.
Samson, 28, has had contrary trajectories across 12 ODI and 19 T20I innings thus far. While he averages and strikes at 55.71 and 104 respectively in ODIs, a T20I average of 18.50 and strike rate of 131.62 don’t so justice to his potential.
With Samson not being a sure-starter in the national squad despite playing international cricket for over eight years now, his frequent failures in the public eye will only initiate the fault-finding process.
In a perfect world, Samson should’ve been creating impact with his attacking display of batting on a consistent basis to present his case in the best possible manner. As much as it is true that Samson’s chances at the highest level have been sporadic, he isn’t doing timing a favour by not clicking before a continental and a world event. Notwithstanding different formats, him misfiring now will gravely affect his chances chiefly due to how recency bias works.
