‘Why should an injury bring Sanju Samson into this team?’ Ravi Shastri spits facts, Shubman Gill feels pressure

Playing his first match for India since the Asia Cup in September, Sanju Samson put up a short yet entertaining show in the 5th T20I against South Africa at Ahmedabad Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday. Back opening the inning for India after Shubman Gill was ruled out, Samson struck four boundaries and a six to eclipse his in-form partner Abhishek Sharma, who has by far been India’s greatest T20I batter of this year. Samson played beautifully for 37 off 22 balls before he was castled by left-arm spinner George Linde.

And to think that had it not been for Gill’s injury, Samson would have warmed the benches for India. First pushed lower into the batting order, then dropped from the Playing XI completely, Samson’s treatment by the team management has been questioned time and again, especially with Gill failing to get going in T20Is. And on Friday, former India head coach Ravi Shastri echoed the sentiments of a million Indian cricket fans when he questioned why Samson doesn’t get to play more often for India.

“When you see him batting like this, you sometimes think, why is he not in the side in the first place? Why should it be an injury that brings him in? He is just a natural for that position at the top of the order. [He has scored] three hundreds already in T20 cricket, two against South Africa back-to-back. He is explosive and dangerous,” Shastri said on air.

And he has a point. Samson is indeed the only Indian player to smash back-to-back centuries in T20I cricket, when he hammered 111 against Bangladesh in October last year and followed it with 107 not out against the Proteas. Samson’s knocks paved the way for more T20I hammering from Indians, as Tilak Varma bludgeoned an unbeaten 107 and 120 not out in Centurion and Johannesburg.