Former Indian cricketer Anil Kumble believes that Sanju Samson will be the focus of the India vs South Africa T20I series. Prior to the series, Kumble stated that Sanju Samson's inconsistent performance would likley put him under the radar. Samson just struck an incredible century in the T20I against Bangladesh, but he has not secured a fixed berth in the Indian squad yet.
Samson made his Indian team debut almost ten years ago, but he has not established himself. Samson has been excluded from the Indian team due to a combination of subpar performances and irregularities in the selection procedure. But Samson has been given a long rope by the new management, which is led by Gautam Gambhir, who has showed faith in him. At the Rajasthan Royals of the Indian Premier League, he has really been elevated to his favourite place in the top order.
Kumble on Samson
"There's been a lot of talk about keeping Sanju Samson in the team long-term, and that century he scored will certainly have given him a lot of confidence. We know the ability of Sanju Samson; he is a class act," Kumble said on Jio Cinema.
"Consistency is a bit lacking, and I'm sure the Indian selectors are mindful of that. Placing him at the top of the innings, either at number one, two, or three, is where I believe he can truly add value to this team. He has strong backfoot play, plenty of time against fast bowlers, and can be devastating against spinners. It will be interesting to see how he handles those four matches in South Africa under those conditions," he added.
India's T20I series gets underway on November 8. India has managed to call up a number of players while carrying most of their T20 specialists. Ramandeep Singh and Yash Dayal have received recognition for their significant IPL achievements.
India's T20I Squad vs SA
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal
