These are not good signs for Sanju Samson. The batter has been going bad to worse, as far as his form in the T20I is concerned. As if scores of 10 and 6 in the first two matches weren’t poor enough, he fell for a golden duck in the third IND vs NZ T20I in Guwahati on Sunday.
This means, that his last fifty in a T20I was way back in September 2025, against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, which was 9 innings back. Since then he has only faltered, big time. He averaged 20 last year, and this year, he averages an appalling 5, where he has scored 16 in 3 innings.
What is even more extraordinary is, this was his 25th duck in his T20 career, in 323 innings. The Indian players who are above him are, Dinesh Karthik with 26 ducks in 415 innings, and Rohit Sharma with 31 in 463 innings. Meanwhile, the overall record is held by Sunil Narine, who has 52 0s to his name, in 583 innings.
Ishan Kishan Could be T20 World Cup Choice
On the other hand, there is a strong keeper-contender, who is slowly becoming the leader in the race to make it to the T20 World Cup XI for India. And that obviously is Ishan Kishan. Not only he proved himself by being the highest run-getter in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but then slammed a mighty 76 in the Raipur encounter, followed by 28 from 13 here.
If Sanju does not pull up a great, memorable knock, it could all be over for him soon. His last 10 innings read – 10 (7), 37 (22), 2 (4), 24 (21), 39 (23), 13 (17), 56 (45), 16 (7), 1 (3), 3 (6), 6(5), 0(1).
Cricket
ICC T20 World Cup warm-up schedule to be announced on Jan 26, IND vs SA match likely
