Pujara urges India to back Samson despite recent low scores

Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara backed Sanju Samson ahead of the second T20I against West Indies, saying there should be no questions over his place in the playing XI despite recent low scores and urging the team to support him

New Delhi: Ahead of India’s second T20I against West Indies in Ranchi, former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has backed under-fire wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, saying there should be no questions over his place in the playing XI after a couple of low scores.

In the first T20I against West Indies in Lucknow, Samson’s lean patch continued as he was dismissed for just 11. The low score added to a concerning string of single-digit outings for Samson, whose recent Asian Games campaign yielded scores of 9, 7 and 2.

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“I hope that there is no pressure on him, because there shouldn’t be. He has won a World Cup for the Indian team and performed exceptionally well there. He’s a quality player. So there shouldn’t be any questions around him being part of the playing XI,” Pujara said to JioHotstar.

Further backing Samson, Pujara expressed confidence that he would come good in the upcoming matches.

“Yes, you might have one or two bad games, and then if he has that, that’s the time when the team management has to step in, to give him the right message that, ‘You are an important part of this team and will be part of this playing XI, so just go out there, express yourself, play your natural game.’

“And in a T20 format, there’ll be some failures in between. But that’s the time when you talk to a player, give him the right message. Yes, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is there, he will get his opportunity when the right time comes, but you don’t make too many changes. If Sanju plays another two or three innings, I’m sure he will perform exceptionally well,” he added.

Talking about opener Abhishek Sharma’s early dismissal against off-spinner Roston Chase in the first T20I, which India won by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the five-game series, Pujara opined that the youngster would be back to his best soon after a miscalculated shot selection.

“Abhishek got off to a good start against seamers, but Shai Hope quickly realised that on that Lucknow pitch there was enough assistance for the spinners. Abhishek’s record against off-spinners hasn’t been great, though he’s improved that number significantly.

“But at Lucknow again, it looked like he wasn’t in the best frame of mind against spinners. His options, especially against Roston Chase, could have been slightly better. He wanted to hit that ball over covers, but eventually it ended up going to long-off.

“I’m sure he will learn this very quickly, because he’s timing the ball well. The turnaround time between the games wasn’t ideal, so with one game, you don’t judge him too much. It was just one of those off days for him, but in the second T20I, he will be raring to go,” he concluded.