Rajasthan Royals captain and wicket-keeper-batsman Sanju Samson have been facing a lot of criticism lately. He was expected to deliver a good performance for the team in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. However, Samson failed miserably. The talented wicketkeeper-batsman had made no contribution in batting when he was needed the most.
Meanwhile former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt has joined the list of Sanju’s critics. Also, he has bashed Samson by calling him a lazy batsman. Notably, Sanju Samson had a very poor performance bat throughout the 3-match T20I series. He scored 27 and 7 runs in the first two games and got out on duck in the series decider against Sri Lanka.
Sanju Samson in T20Is :
19, 6, 8, 2, 23, 15, 10, 27, 7, 0
Sanju Samson get many chance but couldn't convert the chances well. Chances for him in World T20 Cup Squad will be difficult. Nothing is going in his favour.— Anuj.Gupta (@Anujgupta112) July 29, 2021
Butt believes that Sanju should have been more careful while batting after knowing the fact team India had poor batting depth. Notably, India only had 5 batsmen in the team in the 2nd and 3rd T20I games. Talking about Sanju Samson on his YouTube channel, Salman stated:
“Sanju Samson seems like a lazy batsman to me. When you know you are not able to pick a bowler (Wanindu Hasaranga), you should keep your pad ahead of the bat and play him out. But still, he was trying to play the ball on the back foot, and that too across the line. So what happened what that Samson completely missed the ball and was trapped in front. It looked like he had a very casual approach. When you know that there are only five batsmen in the team and you are one of them, and two have already got out, you should have been more careful. But I did not see that effort from Samson.”
Overall Sanju Samson’s T20I career has been a nightmare for him. In the 10 innings, he has scored only 117 with no 30+ scores in his name. Also, Sanju has an average of just 11.7 in T20Is.
“When you are such an established name, you need to do something to prove yourself” – Salman Butt on Sanju Samson
While talking about India vs Sri Lanka T20I Salman Butt also talked about young batsmen Devdutt Paddikal and Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, but went easy on the duo considering they are new recruits of the Indian team. However, he went down heavily on the Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju.
Salman stated that Samson has a healthy domestic cricket and Indian Premier League (IPL) experience in his bag.
“Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad have played only two matches. Obviously, they couldn’t score runs like they have done in the IPL. But they have the potential and they will get a chance to display it on better pitches in the future. As for Sanju Samson, frankly he has not lived up to his reputation. He has just not taken any responsibility. These are moments where you can make your name.”
“The other two players were completely new at the international stage. But Sanju Samson has been playing domestic cricket for 7-8 seasons and has been part of the IPL for so many seasons. When you are such an established name, you need to do something to prove yourself at the big stage. If he had grabbed this opportunity, it would have been remembered forever,” Butt concluded.
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