It is just unfortunate that Sanju Samson can’t get a big score for Team India. Despite possessing all the talent in the world, he once again found a way to squander a chance, that too after getting his eye in. On Thursday, with Abhishek Sharma unfit for the IND vs NAM T20 World Cup encounter, the Kerala player was given an opportunity at the top of the order, but could only manage 22 from 8 deliveries, that too in his T20 WC debut.
Sanju Samson fails on T20 World Cup debut
He played a half-hearted shot to pacer Ben Shikongo, and was caught at deep mid-wicket. That marked the end of, what could have been career-saving innings for Sanju Samson. Yes, it is pretty clear that with Ishan Kishan and Abhishek around, he isn’t the preferred opener choice, but the match vs Namibia was a chance to maybe change that.
Mind you, he did trouble Shikongo a great deal, and hit him for 6, 6, 4 before getting out. He looked set for a big one, his first fifty in 12 innings, but that was not to be. To give an idea of how poor he has been in the last year-and-half; in the last 21 innings, he has only one 50+ score to his name.
Time running out
In 2025, he played 15 matches where he could score 222 runs at an average of 20. And this year, he has been poor with 68 runs in 6 innings. All this when he was brought back to his original opening spot, after a few shuffles and was given IND vs NZ series to prove his mettle. There also, the result was quite the same.
In all fairness, the way his form has dipped, it might just be the last big tournament that Sanju might be a part of, with a few fresh faces waiting in the wings.
