Sanju Samson's form becomes a matter of concern
PTI, New Delhi: No dearth of talent but lack of consistency in performances in his T20 career over the last decade makes Sanju Samson one of the most interesting contradictory figures in Indian cricket. His recent poor performance with scores of 10, six and zero in the first three matches against New Zealand also paints a disappointing picture.
His weak form is all the more troubling when Ishan Kishan's game is garnering accolades from both fans and experts. In cricket there is a clear distinction between statistics and 'data', which people often consider to be one and the same. While statistics present a flat picture, 'Data' tries to analyze the same data in depth.
Samson has scored 1048 runs at a strike rate of over 147 in 55 T20 matches played in 11 years. During this period, he has three half-centuries and three centuries to his name, two of which came on South African soil in late 2024. His strike rate drops to 131 against Australia, 118 against England and 113 against New Zealand.
Whenever Samson has started the innings after 2025, some clear trends have emerged. Early last year, England troubled him in five consecutive matches by bowling fast and shot balls towards the body, forcing him to play hasty pull shots without the power and timing. Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson this year (2026) bowled the balls in a straight line or in the direction of leg-middle, due to which Samson did not get a chance to play freely on the off-side.
The problems he was facing in his batting were explained by former Indian batsman WV Raman and 'High Performance Director' of Rajasthan Royals, Zubin Bharucha. Bharucha has worked closely with Samson for a long time. Raman said, Sanju has some problems on both technical and mental fronts. His bat speed remains almost the same while playing shots against bowlers of different speeds. This can give them success against bowlers with a speed of 130 km per hour. But there is a problem if the speed is more or less than 130 and there is a change in it.
He said, "The solution is to adjust the bat speed according to the ball speed. Once this happens, his batting will improve.
On the mental aspect, Raman said, he knows that there is tough competition for the wicketkeeper-batsman spot in white-ball cricket. Maybe this is what is putting the pressure. Still, they have full potential to overcome this problem. He is a capable player and can perform for India. Raman does not believe that batting in the middle order spoils his rhythm.
Bharucha, who has worked with players like Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurail in Rajasthan Royals, believes that the problem is more mental than technical. “There is nothing technically wrong,” he said. It's all in the mind. Due to lack of clarity he sometimes looks brilliant and sometimes average. This happens with every player. Recently this has happened with Suryakumar Yadav also. You just have to learn to handle it better.
Ravichandran Ashwin had also recently told that New Zealand bowled straight line to him while England bowled short and fast in the direction of the body. Bharucha said on this, in such a situation, you have to practice a little more in those areas which you consider your weakness. Samson wants to score more runs on the off side.
When Bharucha was asked how Samson can overcome these shortcomings, he said, he should face more such balls during practice. The throwdown specialist must continuously change from the off stump line to the leg stump line.
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