With no success beyond opening, where should India slot in Sanju Samson?

Sanju Samson’s batting position remains uncertain for India, with data showing his success at No. 1 and No. 4 but struggles in the middle order. His best chance could be at No. 3

Dubai: The Indian team management is unlikely to tinker too much with its playing XI for the marquee Asia Cup clash against Pakistan, but Sanju Samson’s batting slot will surely be a hot topic of discussion come Sunday.

In the lead-up to the first game, it didn’t seem like Samson was in the scheme of things, but once he was rested for the optional training ahead of the team’s tournament opener against UAE, it became clear that the Kerala dasher would be playing ahead of Jitesh Sharma.

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The UAE game, in which skipper Suryakumar Yadav came in after the fall of Abhishek Sharma’s wicket during the team’s chase of 58, is no indicator, and it remains to be seen where Samson fits in against stronger sides.

Sunil Gavaskar, in a recent interaction with PTI, said, “Samson can’t be played below No. 3, and in that case, Tilak Varma needs to come in at No. 5.”

Among the three formats, T20 is one where ‘data points’ play a bigger role compared to the others. The data seemingly suggests that Samson is virtually ineffective beyond the opening position, although he has had modest success at No. 2 down. Herein lies the problem, as the left-handed Tilak is also not very effective beyond No. 3 in T20Is.

The third angle of this triangle is the skipper himself, who became a world-beater by batting regularly at No. 3 for India in recent years.

With Samson, there is a two-fold problem. Firstly, he has batted in 38 innings for India, 14 of those when he has faced the first ball of the innings (at No. 1). He has scored 512 of his 861 runs at this position, with a fantastic strike rate of 182.2, including three hundreds and a fifty.

He has also batted at various numbers from 2-7, but the other significant slot has been No. 4, where he played 11 innings, scoring 164 runs with a fifty and a below-par strike rate of 129.9.

Out of 38 innings, in 25, he has either batted at No. 1 or No. 4. In all other slots, his contributions have been negligible, and his strike rate has been very poor. It’s also a reflection that he hasn’t exactly been very successful in negotiating the slow bowlers during middle overs. Although in internationals, he hasn’t faced much spin bowling.

Secondly, when one looks at Tilak’s numbers for India, it becomes clear that he thrives either at No. 3 or No. 4. In 21 of his 24 innings, the Andhra left-hander has batted at these two slots.

Offering his take on the issue during a media briefing here on Friday, India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said, “Sanju Samson hasn’t batted a lot at No. 5 or 6, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bat at that position. Everyone knows their roles. Last match he didn’t bat at No. 3, but it doesn’t mean the same thing will happen in the next game.”

In 13 innings at No. 3, Samson has scored 443 runs at a strike rate close to 170, with both his centuries against South Africa coming while he batted at that slot. He has been okay at No. 4, scoring 256 runs from eight knocks at a strike rate close to 138.

In this current Indian set-up under Suryakumar Yadav, the skipper and Tilak swapping positions between No. 3 and No. 4 has worked well for the side.

But now, with Shubman Gill at the top and the team management preferring an extra top-order keeper-batter in Samson rather than a finisher like Jitesh Sharma at the start of the tournament, a problem with batting slots has emerged.

The Indian T20I skipper has maintained that beyond the openers, who have fixed slots, everyone from numbers 3 to 7 needs to be flexible according to the team’s needs, but the numbers are telling a very different story.

The problem with Samson being asked to bat in the middle order is fraught with the prospect of him not being able to dominate the slower bowlers on a slightly tackier track in Dubai, compared to what he would face in India or South Africa.

In the IPL, his strike rate against wrist-spinners (right-arm and left-arm) and left-arm orthodox spinners is less than 140. He has a strike rate of 136.61 from 86 innings, scoring 791 runs in 579 balls against wrist spinners. He has been dismissed 22 times and has a dot ball percentage of 32.64.

He has hit 49 sixes, which means he can hit a wrist spinner for a maximum every 12 deliveries. Remember, Pakistan has two wrist spinners – Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem (left-arm wrist spin) – and at least one of them will certainly play.

In 15 innings in T20Is in which he has faced wrist spinners, he has been dismissed seven times, which means he’s getting out once in every two knocks.

When it comes to Samson’s statistics against left-arm spinners in the IPL, they are slightly better. He has 695 runs from 503 balls, with a strike rate of 138.17. The dot ball percentage is 28.23, and he has hit one six every 8 balls (7.85). He has hit 34 sixes against left-arm spinners.

The spinners operate primarily between overs 7 to 16-17, depending on match situations and the availability of tweakers in the playing XI.

Now that he has had to forego his opening slot to vice-captain Gill, Samson’s best shot at success is likely at No. 3.

The Indian team management is unlikely to tinker too much with its playing XI for the marquee Asia Cup clash against Pakistan, but Sanju Samson’s batting slot will surely be a hot topic of discussion come Sunday.

In the lead-up to the first game, it didn’t seem like Samson was in the scheme of things, but once he was rested for the optional training ahead of the team’s tournament opener against UAE, it became clear that the Kerala dasher would be playing ahead of Jitesh Sharma.

The UAE game, in which skipper Suryakumar Yadav came in after the fall of Abhishek Sharma’s wicket during the team’s chase of 58, is no indicator, and it remains to be seen where Samson fits in against stronger sides.

Sunil Gavaskar, in a recent interaction with PTI, said, “Samson can’t be played below No. 3, and in that case, Tilak Varma needs to come in at No. 5.”

Among the three formats, T20 is one where ‘data points’ play a bigger role compared to the others. The data seemingly suggests that Samson is virtually ineffective beyond the opening position, although he has had modest success at No. 2 down. Herein lies the problem, as the left-handed Tilak is also not very effective beyond No. 3 in T20Is.

The third angle of this triangle is the skipper himself, who became a world-beater by batting regularly at No. 3 for India in recent years.

With Samson, there is a two-fold problem. Firstly, he has batted in 38 innings for India, 14 of those when he has faced the first ball of the innings (at No. 1). He has scored 512 of his 861 runs at this position, with a fantastic strike rate of 182.2, including three hundreds and a fifty.

He has also batted at various numbers from 2-7, but the other significant slot has been No. 4, where he played 11 innings, scoring 164 runs with a fifty and a below-par strike rate of 129.9.

Out of 38 innings, in 25, he has either batted at No. 1 or No. 4. In all other slots, his contributions have been negligible, and his strike rate has been very poor. It’s also a reflection that he hasn’t exactly been very successful in negotiating the slow bowlers during middle overs. Although in internationals, he hasn’t faced much spin bowling.

Secondly, when one looks at Tilak’s numbers for India, it becomes clear that he thrives either at No. 3 or No. 4. In 21 of his 24 innings, the Andhra left-hander has batted at these two slots.

Offering his take on the issue during a media briefing here on Friday, India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said, “Sanju Samson hasn’t batted a lot at No. 5 or 6, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bat at that position. Everyone knows their roles. Last match he didn’t bat at No. 3, but it doesn’t mean the same thing will happen in the next game.”

In 13 innings at No. 3, Samson has scored 443 runs at a strike rate close to 170, with both his centuries against South Africa coming while he batted at that slot. He has been okay at No. 4, scoring 256 runs from eight knocks at a strike rate close to 138.

In this current Indian set-up under Suryakumar Yadav, the skipper and Tilak swapping positions between No. 3 and No. 4 has worked well for the side.

But now, with Shubman Gill at the top and the team management preferring an extra top-order keeper-batter in Samson rather than a finisher like Jitesh Sharma at the start of the tournament, a problem with batting slots has emerged.

The Indian T20I skipper has maintained that beyond the openers, who have fixed slots, everyone from numbers 3 to 7 needs to be flexible according to the team’s needs, but the numbers are telling a very different story.

The problem with Samson being asked to bat in the middle order is fraught with the prospect of him not being able to dominate the slower bowlers on a slightly tackier track in Dubai, compared to what he would face in India or South Africa.

In the IPL, his strike rate against wrist-spinners (right-arm and left-arm) and left-arm orthodox spinners is less than 140. He has a strike rate of 136.61 from 86 innings, scoring 791 runs in 579 balls against wrist spinners. He has been dismissed 22 times and has a dot ball percentage of 32.64.

He has hit 49 sixes, which means he can hit a wrist spinner for a maximum every 12 deliveries. Remember, Pakistan has two wrist spinners – Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem (left-arm wrist spin) – and at least one of them will certainly play.

In 15 innings in T20Is in which he has faced wrist spinners, he has been dismissed seven times, which means he’s getting out once in every two knocks.

When it comes to Samson’s statistics against left-arm spinners in the IPL, they are slightly better. He has 695 runs from 503 balls, with a strike rate of 138.17. The dot ball percentage is 28.23, and he has hit one six every 8 balls (7.85). He has hit 34 sixes against left-arm spinners.

The spinners operate primarily between overs 7 to 16-17, depending on match situations and the availability of tweakers in the playing XI.

Now that he has had to forego his opening slot to vice-captain Gill, Samson’s best shot at success is likely at No. 3.