Sanju Samson got a chance to go as an opener in India vs Bangladesh 1st T20I under head coach Gautam Gambhir. With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retiring from T20Is, there has finally been an opening for him in the T20 format. Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav have chosen to experiment him as an opening batter during the Bangladesh T20I series.

Was Sanju Samson’s Performance Up To The Mark?

In the series opener at New Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior, Samson opened alongside Abhishek Sharma. He did get a promising start in his 19-ball innings though he failed to capitalize on the good start and was dismissed for 29. Former India opener Aakash Chopra praised Samson’s approach and noted that he was focusing on timing the ball more than expecting boundaries off the hard hits.

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Aakash Chopra Provides Full Analysis

“You need to talk about Sanju Samson. Abhishek Sharma was playing amazingly well until he was there but he got run out. But how well did Sanju play. Gautam Gambhir said long back that if Sanju Samson doesn’t play for India, it’s India’s loss. He was made to open. The silken touch was seen. He wasn’t hitting the ball hard. It seemed like he didn’t want to hurt the ball, and he was hitting one four after another. When everyone was hitting, he also hit but by caressing the ball. You were getting hit, you were bleeding but you were not feeling the pain,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Scoring Big Runs Very Important For Samson

“He is good. He scored 29 runs. My only thing was that since he had reached here, he should go slightly further ahead. He should score a few more runs because, otherwise, they would drop him. He keeps moving in and out (of the side), and up and down (the batting order),” said Chopra

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Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill are been rested for T20I series, and this is the biggest opportunity for Sanju Samson to shine. Yet again, he failed to convert a good start into a match-winning show after missing another promising start. Aakash Chopra pointed out that if Samson fails to produce substantial runs in the remaining matches then he may be dropped again from the team.