Leg and Off: Is Sanju Samson's weakness against the short ball a cause for concern?

Team India's rampaging run in T20Is met a stumbling block when England stunned them in the third T20I of the five-match series in Rajkot on January 28. After restricting the visitors to a seemingly below-par 171, the Indian batters succumbed to a relentless barrage of pace bowling by the English seamers.

While the struggles of each Indian batter raised their own questions, it was Sanju Samson's that had the alarm bells ringing louder than ever. The 30-year-old scored under 30 for a third consecutive innings in the series, including back-to-back single-digit scores.

Yet, the concern stemmed not from the sudden flurry of low scores - something understandable in the T20 format. It was Samson's apparent discomfort against short-pitched bowling, especially from ace pacer Jofra Archer.

Archer dismissed his soon-to-be Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Samson on all three occasions with the short ball. While India still leads the series 2-1, the focus will be on this particular matchup, especially to see how Samson combats the short-pitched deliveries.

Ahead of the third T20I, the Kerala batter even trained using the plastic method to overcome any possible frailties against the short ball, to no avail.

On that note, let us look at a few key factors and decipher if Sanju Samson's short-ball weakness is a massive cause of concern.

The optics pre-dismissal and similarities in dismissals cannot be ignored

While three innings may be too small a sample size to come to any conclusions, the look and feel while watching Sanju Samson bat at the moment is one of discomfort and indecisiveness. The fact that Samson has looked awkward against the pacy short-pitched deliveries from Archer and Mark Wood even before his eventual dismissal makes it a scary proposition for Indian fans.

The 30-year-old has been rushed and cramped for room even while fending short deliveries. And, his ultimate release shot - the pull, has lacked balance and shape, resulting in the ball going straight into the fielders' hands.

Barring a few eye-catching strokes in the opening T20I, Samson has had no answers to the short deliveries bowled fast and into his body. The free-flowing nature of his batting has taken a backseat, with tentativeness and a lack of clarity creeping in despite the knowledge of what's coming at him.

In this day and age of video analysis and analytics, Samson can be rest assured that the fast short-pitched delivery onto the body is going to follow him until he consistently showcases the ability to overcome the same.

Form, format and facts dismiss any major concerns

It is important to avoid deriving any conclusions being a 'prisoner of the moment' and purely based on 'recency bias'. Hence, providing context to Samson's sudden short-ball struggles involves looking at historical data, recent form and other intangibles.

For starters, one must remember the T20 format, especially the all-out attacking brand India have zeroed in on, accentuates any possible issue a batter or bowler endures. The lack of time to adapt to a wicket and the opposition's plan of attack could also be working against Samson at the moment.

Should he have encountered such a barrage of short-pitched bowling at pace in the 50-over or Test formats, Samson may have well used the fending off or ducking option. However, the feeling of always being in a hurry and the hunger to constantly smash boundaries plays into a bowler's hands if he already has the upper hand tactically and psychologically.

Samson has also historically been a terrific puller of the cricket ball, irrespective of the format. The stylish batter is one of the few Indian players with the ability to play the pull shot in front of square off the front and back foot - evidence of his comfort against the short ball.

Yet, the one thing worth asking is how often he has been tested with only short deliveries at speeds of over 145 kph cramping him for room. The answer may be rarely if ever.

Nevertheless, it is hard to look past his recent heroics on the bouncy tracks in South Africa just before the ongoing England series. Samson scored two breathtaking centuries in Durban and Johanessburg against tall and pacy South African bowlers, pulling and cutting balls effortlessly at will.

All of these suggest that the short-ball debacle against the English bowlers may be a blip rather than a trend.

Previous examples of 'two sides to a coin' in Indian cricket

The short-ball syndrome is nothing new to Indian cricket, with opposition teams using that as Plan A against Indian batters for decades. While the all-time greats have overcome the same and even feasted against the short ball, some have underachieved mainly due to the short delivery.

Yet, it is important to understand the 'two sides to a coin' theory when it comes to analyzing any batter's success and failures against a plan. A classic case in point when it comes to short-pitched bowling would be Rohit Sharma.

The veteran batter is often hailed as arguably India's best puller and hooker against the short delivery. Yet, teams have often used that as their primary mode of attack against Rohit and succeeded due to his habit of playing the shot in the air to the deep fielders.

However, there are also the examples of Suresh Raina and Shreyas Iyer, where the success rate is much lower than the failures against short deliveries. In the case of Samson, it is hard to find a middle ground between the two.

The stylish batter has been Rohit Sharma-esque against the short ball until this point in his career. Yet, over the last three games against England, he has looked as uncomfortable as any Indian batter ever throughout his stay against short-pitched bowling.

Conclusion

The judgment on Samson against short-pitched bowling might be one that hinges on the eye of the beholder, similar to Virat Kohli driving deliveries outside off stump in Tests. The sudden 'hero to zero' nature of his execution against the short delivery makes it hard to ignore the growing concerns amongst Indian fans.

Yet, the T20 format, negligible sample space and his historical success against this bowling style sway the benefit of the doubt in favor of Sanju Samson.