Sanju Samson made the most out of the first chance that he got in India's playing XI for Asia Cup 2025 and ended up playing a valiant inning of 56. It was this knock that led the Men in Blue to a formidable total of 188/8 after 20 overs. However, former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer wasn't quite satisfied with Samson's knock.
After having lost his opening position to Shubman Gill, Samson came out to bat at the No.3 spot. Though it was his first match of the tournament, the latter scored a great half-century, hitting three boundaries and sixes each. However, his strike-rate of 124.44 wasn't that impressive and Jaffer pointed that out. He further described Samson's inning as 'scratchy', but also defended the 30-year-old and stated that facing associate bowlers can sometimes be very tricky.
"It wasn’t as fluent as Sanju generally bats. His strike rate was in the mid-120s. Generally, he has a higher strike rate," Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
"That can happen against associate teams. When you don’t know the bowlers, lack of pace can do you in. It can be a little difficult. It might look easy, but it is not. It was a scratchy innings. I am happy that he got runs, but I would have liked to see him bat at No. 5 or No. 6 because he is going to play in that situation in the next three games," he added.
Meanwhile, India eventually came out victorious in the match against Oman. After the Men in Blue posted the joint-highest total of the tournament so far, Oman came out to bat and did gave the Indian bowlers a tough time. The Jatinder Singh-led side put in a commendable effort with the bat as both Aamir Kaleem (64) and Hammad Mirza (51) scored valiant half-centuries, pushing the bowlers on the back-foot. Oman would only lose four wickets in their innings, but would end up 21 runs short of the target of 189. They finished their 20 overs on 167/4 and suffered a third consecutive defeat of the tournament.
India to face Pakistan again
On the other hand, India continued their unbeaten run in Asia Cup and will be heading to the Super 4 stage brimming with confidence. Their next clash in the tourrnament will be against Pakistan and will be contested on September 21. Suryakumar Yadav & Co. will be aiming to defeat their arch-rivals for the second time in the competition.