There have always been question marks on Sanju Samson’s consistency but the flamboyant right-hander impressed former opener batter, Wasim Jaffer, with his performances in the three-match ODI series against South Africa.
Samson scored an unbeaten knock of 86 runs in the first ODI off just 63 balls against the Proteas at Lucknow and almost took his team to victory. India needed 30 runs in the final over and Samson was able to put Tabraiz Shamsi under pressure as he hit the left-armer for 21 runs.
This was Samson’s highest score in ODI cricket as he batted at the top of his game. Samson stitched two crucial partnerships with Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur to keep India in the game.
Samson scored a total of 114 runs in three matches against the Proteas at an impressive strike rate of 114.56.
“Sanju Samson has definitely impressed me a lot. There’s always a question mark on his consistency but he showed that in this series. He couldn’t win India the game in the first match but finished the game in the second and remained not out in both (all three) games,” said Jaffer on ESPNCricinfo.
On the other hand, Jaffer also shed light on Rishabh Pant’s performances. The left-hander hasn’t been consistent in the shortest format of the game but he scored a fine knock of 125 runs in the deciding ODI against England.
Jaffer feels we forgot that knock very easily and Pant should be backed in the ODI format. Earlier, the former domestic giant had stated that Pant should open the innings in the T20I format for India.
“I feel we forget his series-winning century in England very easily. That was in one-day cricket. In T20 cricket, definitely, he’s not very consistent, especially at number four and five but in Test and one-dayers, I don’t think there’s any opposition for him yet. Although KL Rahul can keep wickets and Sanju Samson has been impressive, I don’t think you can think of replacing Rishabh Pant in one-day cricket. Sanju Samson should be in the scheme of things because of how he plays but not at the cost of Rishabh Pant,” said Jaffer.
India will face Pakistan in their opening match of the T20 World Cup at the MCG on 23rd October.
