"Make sure that he gets as many innings as possible" - Former India cricketer backs under-fire Sanju Samson ahead of IND vs ENG 5th T20I

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has backed Sanju Samson ahead of the fifth and final T20I against England in Mumbai on Sunday, February 2. The 59-year-old reckons the wicketkeeper-batter should be allowed a long ‘patch of failures’ because of his match-winning talent.

The cricketer-turned-commentator believes Samson is just one inning away from returning to form while pointing out his conversation rate from the 40s and 50s to centuries.

The remarks came after Samson returned with scores of 26, 5, 3, and 1 in his first four outings against England. The 30-year-old had slammed three centuries, one against Bangladesh and two versus South Africa, in his five innings before the ongoing T20I series.

Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo (via News 18):

“When you are looking at a T20I talent, batting talent, you have got to see when they are playing well what kind of impact they can make, what contribution they can make. And you see with Sanju Samson, when he plays well, he gets an incredible hundred and puts your team in a winning position. So, such people are allowed failures and maybe a long patch of failures as well because that’s the nature of these as a T20 cricketer, where you can’t play yourself, where you have to keep taking those risks that they take, and hopefully there’s one innings that just propels him back into form.”

“So, with Sanju Samson, I think you should just make sure that he gets as many innings as possible purely because when he gets into form and plays well, he makes it all worth it. If that was another guy who was failing in this fashion and when he got into form just got you 40 or 50, then maybe you would offer him a shorter rope. But I will have a lot of patience with this current version of Sanju Samson,” he added.

As an opener, Samson has 506 runs in 13 matches since the 2024 T20 World Cup.

“He’s playing pull shots and not hook shots” – Former Pakistan cricketer points out technical fault in Sanju Samson’s batting

Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali feels Sanju Samson should play hook shots instead of pull shots. Ali also advised him to execute pull shots like Hardik Pandya, who smacked four sixes in his 53-run knock in the fourth T20I. He said on his YouTube channel 'Basit Ali':

“What mistake Sanju is making? He’s playing pull shots and not hook shots. If he wants to play a pull shot, do it like Hardik Pandya, who smacked one over mid-on or play towards mid-wicket.”

The remarks came after Samson departed similarly, caught at square leg, in all his four outings of the ongoing series.