The Asia Cup encounter between India and Oman at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday, September 19, gave Sanju Samson his debut batting opportunity. Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and chose to bat first, moving the Kerala wicketkeeper up to No. 3.
Even though Sanju Samson is renowned for his aggressive batting style, he had trouble finding his timing for the majority of the innings and ended up scoring 56 runs off 45 balls. India held a determined Oman team to 167/4 after scoring 188/8 in their 20 overs.
While acknowledging that Sanju Samson wasn’t playing at his best on Friday, former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth praised him for his responsible batting and ability to anchor the innings so that the other batters could play their shots from the other end. If Samson hadn’t performed that knock, India might have lost the match, according to Srikkanth, a part of the team that won the World Cup in 1983.
“Sanju Samson has my happiness.
He batted up the order after failing to get a chance in the previous two games. Even though it wasn’t Sanju Samson’s best knock, he batted properly given the circumstances when he entered the game. Although it wasn’t his finest, his strike rate wasn’t lethal, but from the team’s perspective, it was a crucial knock. We reached 188 because of his three successful collaborations with Abhishek, Tilak, and Axar,” Srikkanth stated on his YouTube page.
Given how the rest of the match unfolded, India might have lost if he hadn’t knocked. Thus, in a sense, Sanju’s knock was quite important. We might have only had 160 or so without it. I appreciated that he took his time to calm down before knocking. We needed someone to remain in the centre. Holding one end up and allowing the others to grow huge was a very smart move on his part,” he continued.
Srikkanth on Arshdeep Singh’s spot in the starting lineup: “The only way is dropping Dube, which they won’t do”
Arshdeep Singh, who participated against Oman after missing the first two games of the tournament, might only be included in the playing XI for India’s Super Four match against Pakistan if Shivam Dube is left out, according to Srikkanth. The former top selector for the BCCI, however, believes that the team management will not exclude the Mumbai all-rounder from the squad.
“However, who can you bring in Arshdeep? They won’t drop Dube, which is the only option. He did not, however, bowl against Pakistan. Of sure, we will win against Pakistan regardless of who bowlers or plays. “India will win even if our producer plays for the team,” Srikkanth declared.
On Sunday, September 21, India will play Pakistan in match No. 2 of the Super-Four stage of the continental championship at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
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