As India skipper Rohit Sharma announced the playing XI for the first ODI against West Indies, there was no place for wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson. While Ishan Kishan got the wicket-keeper’s spot in the team, it was Suryakumar Yadav who earned the nod at the No. 3 spot despite the horrific form he has been in ODI cricket of late. Seeing Surya struggle to score runs in the 50-over format once again, many fans sympathised with Samson who remains on the bench despite proving to be an asset in his recent outings in one-day cricket.
While Suryakumar incurred three consecutive ducks in his previous three ODIs — all against Australia — his last 6 innings weren’t great too. The middle-order batter’s last 6 scores read 19, 0, 0, 0, 14 and 31.
In comparison, Samson’s last 6 scores are: 36, 2*, 30*, 86*, 15 and 43*. When compared to Suryakumar, Samson’s average is also extremely high, at 66 in 11 matches. Surya, on the other hand, averages 23.78 in 24 matches.
“We are gonna field first, no particular reason, just that we wanted to try a few different things and see where we are as a team. We want to head into the World Cup with a clear mindset. For us, the results are also important. At times, we are going to try out different players but we don’t want to compromise on our results. All cricketers around the world who are playing all formats need to adapt well. Hopefully, we can get what we want here. We have got four seamers and two spinners,” India skipper Rohit had said at the time of the toss, suggesting he wants to try a few different things as the team prepares for the World Cup.
Surya, who arguably remains the most fearsome batter in T20 cricket, hasn’t been able to convert his shortest-format form into one-day cricket. While the team management and selectors remain convinced of his skill, the Mumbai batter would need to repay their faith with performances, especially considering there are only about 2 months to go before the ODI World Cup begins.
For Samson, it remains a waiting game, as it arguably always was.
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