"He has more shots than any other Indian" - Ravi Shastri on the probability of Sanju Samson making India's T20 World Cup squad
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri was with the Indian team when they toured Australia in 2020-21. Sanju Samson played in the T20Is Down Under then and although he didn't score big, he impressed Shastri with his range of shots.
Samson was also terrific as a captain in IPL 2022, as he took the Rajasthan Royals (RR) to the final. But despite scoring 458 runs this season, he could only convert two starts into fifties.
That is probably why he missed out on a spot for the T20I series against South Africa.
Sanju in blue is love ❤❤😊😊
India definitely needed player like him in t20s .
Hope he will play in next t20 series
#CricketTwitter @IamSanjuSamson @rajasthanroyals https://t.co/NqSBx1mB1b
But with the likes of Shreyas Iyer having struggled against short-pitched bowling, Ravi Shastri told ESPNcricinfo that he believes Sanju Samson will be more than a handful in Australian conditions.
"(Short ball discussion) it will come into play in these 20 games," Shastri said. "Between Tripathi, Samson, and Iyer, there will be opportunities now. But when you look at Australia, bounce, pace, cut, pull, Samson will always threaten there. For those conditions, he has more shots than any other Indian, to be honest."
When Sanju Samson hits it stays hit. https://t.co/Lu8RpmQznH
"I can't see them missng out" - Ravi Shastri on India's big guns who had a poor IPL 2022
The likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant didn't have the best of IPLs by their standards.
While some feel India must rethink whether they want to go into the World Cup with out-of-form players like Rohit and Virat, Ravi Shastri doesn't see any of them getting dropped.
India are yet to play around 30 T20Is before ths showpiece event. The 60-year-old feels these games will give some youngsters and other fringe players quite a few chances to make an impact.
However, Shastri also claimed that the aforementioned big guns won't miss the plane to Australia. He said:
"Because of the proximity to the World Cup, I don't think they (Rohit, Kohli, Pant, Bumrah) will play all of these 30 games. They will be shared with others. Unless something drastic happens due to injury, I can't see them missing out."
Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori also agreed with what Ravi Shastri had to say. He too felt that these big players were almost undroppable in a huge event like the T20 World Cup.
"Such players have a problem track record that you can sustain a tough run. I think they have proven themselves in big situations where they have performed for India so many times that you want them in your World Cup team. When you write their names on the team sheet, it just feels right and inevitably they will perform."
The upcoming T20I series against South Africa, the limited-overs games in England as well as the Asia Cup that follows will give ample game-time to all the players that India want to shortlist for the T20 World Cup.