Sanju Samson VS Suryakumar Yadav – There was a big furore among fans on social media after India’s playing XI for the first ODI against the West Indies in Barbados, on Thursday, was announced. And this has been quite a theme for the past couple of years.
Fans were left frustrated, angry, and disappointed once again as Kerala and Rajasthan Royals superstar Sanju Samson was not included in the side, more so because the fans had been expecting that now, in the absence of both Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, Samson would get an entire series under his belt.
However, that didn’t happen as India went with the left-handed batting option in Ishan Kishan and also picked India’s best T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav in the XI, who the management and selectors have been trying to fit in and breed in the ODI side following his bumper T20I success and his potential in white-ball cricket.
While Ishan Kishan, who had last year blasted a double century in ODIs but had been underwhelming this year in the format, cracked a terrific half-century on a spin-friendly and slow pitch in Barbados, SKY once again failed to capitalize on his opportunity.
SKY started off briskly in his regular fashion, cracking a cpuple of stylish cover drives and followed it up with his trademark pull shot sixer over fine leg, but got out to spinner Motie, missing a sweep shot.
This further gave a chance for the detractors of the management to play SKY in ODIs and drop Samson from the side.
Sanju Samson vs Suryakumar Yadav ODI Stats comparison:
There is no denying that Samson has much better ODI numbers than Suryakumar.
In 10 ODI knocks, Samson has remained not out 5 times and averages a whopping 66 in ODIs, while Suryakumar, in 22 ODI innings, has a mediocre average of 23. Samson has two fifties in 10 innings while Suryakumar also has 2 fifties, but in 22 innings.
Interestingly, while Suryakumar is known for his six-hitting abilities, it is Samson who has walloped more sixes than SKY in ODIs: Samson has 15 sixes in 10 knocks, while Suryakumar has 9 sixes in 22 knocks.
Further, Samson had a scintillating year in ODIs last year: in 9 ODI innings in 2022, Samson scored 284 runs, remaining not out 5 times, at an outstanding average of 71 with a strike rate of 105, playing the perfect role of a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings as well as finish with fireworks at the end. His best came against a quality South African bowling attack – 86* off 63 balls, almost finishing off a big chase.
However, because of SKY’s jaw-dropping exploits in T20Is and in the IPL, and knowing that he has a much higher ceiling than other batters – that Suryakumar could turn the game on its head in a quicktime and can win games single-handedly – India are persisting with him in ODIs.
