Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has backed Sanju Samson as an opening option along with Abhishek Sharma in the next few matches of the T20 World Cup. His remarks come after the Men in Blue managed to strike a left-right handed balance in their Super 8 game against Zimbabwe where the Kerala batter managed to score 24 runs. The game marked Samson’s return to the playing XI for the first time since the game against Namibia in the tournament.
Sanju to continue as Abhishek’s opening partner?
In a video on social media platform Instagram, Manjrekar pointed out that India had averted the threat of Sikandar Raza by bringing in Sanju Samson as the opener along with Abhishek Sharma in the Super 8 tie against Zimbabwe. He said that India persisting with two left-handers at the top of the order could have proved to be troublesome, given their struggle against off-spinners.
“I thought India’s process was brilliant right at the start when they had a left-hand right-hand combination to open the inning. That was a very, very important change, and that helped India a great deal. I’ll tell you why. If there were two left-handers, Ishan and Abhishek at the top, Sikandar Raza would have brought himself on because it was bowling first, the pitch would have had something for him and his other off-spin in the first six overs, and that would have been a little troublesome,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
Even though he made bare minimum impact, Samson’s explosive start set the stage for India to reach a 250+ run total. It remains to be seen if the Kerala keeper-batter will be in the reckoning for the Super 8 game against the West Indies and the semi-final and final of the T20 WC, provided India are through.
“Now, because there was a presence of Sanju Samson, he couldn’t do that, and that meant that the offspinners were introduced a little late, and when spinners were introduced, India’s run rate dropped for just a little bit but the left-hand right-hand combination at the top was a very important change for India and which worked beautifully,” he added.
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