Former Indian keeper-batter and commentator Deep Dasgupta has reckoned that the Indian opening batter Sanju Samson’s absence from the just-concluded T20I series against Zimbabwe was due to the rotation policy.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former cricketer has backed his opinion by pointing out the absence of senior all-rounder Axar Patel. In the England T20I series, Samson was dropped after the first T20I to make way for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the XI.
As Sooryavanshi failed in three consecutive innings, Samson replaced the teen batting prodigy in the fifth T20I against England. However, the right-handed batter was not named in the squad for the Zimbabwe T20Is.
“Even Axar Patel wasn’t there for the Zimbabwe series. He’s probably India’s No. 1 T20I spinner, yet why are there no questions about his absence?” asked Dasgupta on his YouTube channel.
On the other hand, Axar Patel played all five T20Is in England, taking a total of five wickets. The all-rounder had an excellent game in the third T20I with a four-wicket haul and an unbeaten fifty (57).
“Unfortunately, only two openers can play. So this wasn’t Sanju being rested or dropped. It was done as a trial to see which of the three opening combinations works best. There are even other options like Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya that they’ve not tried,” he noted.
“Sanju should have played more in the previous series against England. It’s important to give the 25 to 30 players in the reckoning for the next big tournament as much game time as possible. That’s the best way to form the ideal 15 just before a tournament,” Dasgupta concluded.
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