Ahead of India’s second T20I against West Indies, to be played in Ranchi, former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has jumped to the aid of under-fire wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, saying that the team management should not doubt his place in the playing eleven after a couple of low scores.
The turnaround time between the games wasn’t ideal, so with one game, you don’t judge him too much. It was just one of those off days for him, but in the second T20I, he will be raring to go,” he concluded. Because he’s timing the ball well, “I’m sure he will learn this very quickly,.
In the first T20I against the West Indies in Lucknow, Samson’s lean patch continued as he was dismissed for just 11. The low score adds to a concerning string of single-digit outings for Samson, whose recent Asian Games campaign yielded scores of 9, 7, and 2, respectively. Talking about opener Abhishek Sharma’s early dismissal against off-spinner Roston Chase in the first T20I, which India won by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-game series, Pujara opined that the youngster will be back on top of his game in no time after a miscalculated shot selection.
“And in a T20 format, there’ll be some failures in between. But that’s the time when you talk to a player, give him the right message. Yes, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is there, he will get his opportunity when the right time comes, but you don’t make too many changes. If Sanju plays another two or three innings, I’m sure he will perform exceptionally well,” he added.
He has won a World Cup for the Indian team and performed exceptionally well there. He’s a quality player. Further speaking in Samson’s favour, Pujara expressed confidence in him coming good in upcoming matches.
Because there shouldn’t be, “I hope that there is no pressure on him,.
So there shouldn’t be any questions around him being part of the playing XI,” Pujara said to JioHotstar. “Yes, you might have one or two bad games, and then if he has that, that’s the time when the team management has to step in, to give him the right message that, ‘You are an important part of this team and will be part of this playing XI, so just go out there, express yourself, play your natural game.”
