In the past, there have been several occasions when there has been outcry over Sanju Samson being benched or dropped from the national side. From social media outrage to intense debates between analysts, the Kerala batter-keeper has been the centre of the discussion over the last few years. On the other hand, he has also been under fire for squandering multiple opportunities.
Given Sanju Samson’s recent form and the tough comptetion warrant for the batter to be benched. And rightfully so, Samson will once again be out of action for quite some time as he has been left out of the Duleep Trophy squad. Let’s analyse why the Kerala star is better off being on the bench rather than on the field.
Miserable form
Sanju Samson has been in awful form in the past few months. In the T20 World Cup, he was benched for the entire tournament. He then featured in three matches against Zimbabwe where he managed to make scores of 58 runs and 12 runs. Then against Sri Lanka, the keeper-batter squandered two more opportunities after being dismissed for a duck in two games.
Tough and better competitors
Another reason why Sanju Samson deserves to warm the bench is the competition he faces among other Indian teammates. His competitiors, both for batting and keeping, are much better and consistent than Samson and their form and numbers advocate for the Kerala batter to be overlooked.
In terms of keeping, it is highly unlikely that Samson will find a place in any format. In Tests and T20Is, Rishabh Pant is India’s first-choice wicketkeeper and is an automatic selection. In ODIs, the role is taken over by KL Rahul – who recently made his comeback against Sri Lanka. Not to mention, his other competitiors include Dhruv Jurel, Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat, Jitesh Sharma.
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If batting is Samson’s only hopes of finding a spot in India, then that is also nearly impossible. Coupled with the presence of stars and their consistent performance, Samson’s poor form is likely to keep him away for a significant period of time. With Tests ruled out for Samson, his chances of being picked for T20Is and ODIs is once again a matter of luck.
Although Samson’s form in ODIs is consideraby better than his T20I record, he’ll find it hard to find a spot in the side, given the depth of the batting order. With Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh making a foray into the national side, the task only becomes tougher for Samson and rightfully so he deserves to sit out because of what others can bring to the table that he can’t.
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IPL hero, international zero
Time and again, Sanju Samson has fared exceptionally well only to flop in international matches. For example, the Kerala batter looked like he was in red-hot form in IPL 2024 and even got picked for the T20 World Cup. What happened next? He went on flop in majority of his outings for India.
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