Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle feels that Sanju Samson should be a regular member of Team India‘s T20I team.
The Kerala batsman has never been given a consistent run in the Indian national cricket team, however, his recent form, and his intent, have made a strong case for his to be selected in India’s T20I side post the IPL 2023.
Sanju Samson started the IPL 2023 with a couple of blockbuster knocks – 55 off 32 vs SRH, and 42 off 25 vs PBKS. He bagged a couple of ducks after, but has bounced back strongly with a vintage knock against Gujarat Titans, smashing 60 runs off 32 balls, in a tall chase of 178 runs.
His knock against the defending champions comprised of 3 fours and 6 sixes, out of which he smashed Rashid Khan for a hat-trick of sixes. The 28-year-old Samson is only the second batsman in the IPL to hit Rashid Khan for three sixes in a row, after Chris Gayle.
Impressed by this sizzling knock by the RR captain and all of Sanju’s intent in T20 cricket, Harsha Bhogle reckoned the Kerala cricketer should play consistently for India in T20Is.
“I would play Sanju Samson in the Indian T20 team every day,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
Here, check out Harsha Bhogle’s special tweet for Sanju Samson:
I would play Sanju Samson in the Indian T20 team every day.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 16, 2023
The IPL 2023 might be a turning point in Samson’s career, from whereon he features with more regularity in the T20I side.
He had an impressive run in T20Is last year, where he got some chances spread across the year and made it count. In 2022, RR Skipper featured in 6 T20Is, and in 5 innings, he scored 179 runs at an average of 44 and strike rate of 158.
He was set to play more matches this year, but suffered a knee injury in early January and missed matches against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals moved to the top of the points table with their 4th win of the season out of 5 matches. They defeated Gujarat Titans, against whom they had lost three times last season.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Skipper said: “When you play quality opponents on a quality wicket, you get such games. Very happy to compete in such a game and come out on top. It was important to rotate our bowlers, they were playing some quality cricket and we had to respect that. The whole team came up well today and we could restrict them to around 170. The start we had, it shows how good a wicket this was. The new ball the quality of swing bowling was good and we had to respect that. But today Zampa coming was a way to match-up with the opponents. He was the match-up for Miller and almost got the wicket, but the catch was dropped. (On Hetmyer) He doesn’t like easy situations, we like putting him in such situations because he usually wins us games from such situations.”
