Why Ishan Kishan won a spot in the Indian team against Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson hasn’t taken advantage of his opportunities, or his successful throws have been overshadowed by teammates’ more successful ones. He didn’t score enough significant runs and wasn’t a skilled enough wicket-keeper to unseat KL Rahul.
His army of devoted supporters flooded the social media platforms even before India’s World Cup roster was revealed, accusing people of partiality and favoritism as usual. They were aware of what would occur. The list of 15 men chosen to represent India in this World Cup does not include Sanju Samson. They have been asked to manage their angst by Samson directly in public settings, but because to their unwavering loyalty to their idol, they have disregarded even his advice.
However, Samson has actually wasted the opportunities that have been given to him and has failed to make a strong enough impression to secure his position in the team. Despite all of his wonderful talents, he has the awful habit of underwhelming when it counts for the team or, even worse, is outperformed by a fellow batsman.
His most notable international performance came in a match against Ireland. When he reached the middle in the fifth over, the chance for a jaw-dropping knock was there. He did score 40 runs off of 26 balls, but just as he seemed to change gears and craft a knock that may serve as his signature, he died playing a muddled short. He was unsure whether to cut or dab, and in the end he managed to pull the ball onto the stumps by doing neither.
That essentially sums up his career: a narrative of missed opportunities, a tale of failing to make an impression in a highly competitive atmosphere, and a tale of constantly being overshadowed by rival contenders. A lack of ambition has frequently surfaced.
Ishan Kishan offers a well-known opposition. The left-handed batters may not have been as talented as Samson, may not have had the same brilliant array of strokes, and may not have been as technically proficient, but he simply made the most of his opportunities. and strengthened his World Cup selection argument.
Kishan also had to wait
In Colombo the previous year, Kishan and Samson each made their ODI debuts over the course of five days. While Kishan smashed a 42-ball 59 as an opener chasing 263 in his first outing, Samson, who was batting first, blasted a fluid run-a-ball 46 coming at one drop in the third over.
For all those complaining about the lack of a continuous series of games, Kishan was also not immediately given a run of matches. He had to wait a little longer than Samson did for his next opportunity in ODIs. Sanju only managed to score 72 runs in three innings during the trip of the West Indies while Kishan sat out. He was run out after making one of them, a 54 off 51 balls while chasing 312, which allowed Axar Patel to make the game-changing 64 off 35 balls.
That has been Samson’s predicament—someone else has made a bigger impression and written a more memorable knock. That’s the one thing his career has lacked: a moment that will live on forever in the minds of both fans and selectors. He is not a huge run scorer, but rather a batsman with beautiful strokes.
All that remains in the mind is a rush of exquisite boundaries, deft hands, quick feet, and glittering eyes luring the ball to openings without tensing a muscle. But winning games for your team is different from appeasing the crowd. Even his top score, a brilliant 86 not out off 63 balls against South Africa in Lucknow, came up just nine runs short of India’s 250-run target.
Two days after the game in Lucknow, Kishan, whose career was in limbo, smashed an 84-ball 93 to aid India in chasing 282. He did, of course, have the energetic Shreyas Iyer by his side, who helped himself to a hundred, but Kishan’s knock was just as important. Samson and Kishan’s life may have been altered by this inning. The latter dropped in the food chain, and Kishan’s stock rose. Two innings later, Kisha would put on an unbelievable display of power hitting by smacking 210 off just 131 balls. Samson wasn’t necessarily awful, but Kishan was superior.
There and there, the Kishan-Samson disagreement was resolved. Kishan would undergo more testing but would pass out without a hitch. He was placed in the middle of the order against Pakistan, when he perhaps played his most mature innings in response to the pace and bite of Pakistan’s three pacers.
Given these circumstances, Samson’s only remaining chance to guarantee a spot in the World Cup was if Iyer and KL Rahul failed to get back into shape in time. Iyer played in the first two games of the Asia Cup, but Rahul is anticipated to play in the Super Four, thus it was not to be.
Of course, when they are in shape, Samson takes a back seat. Iyer has a 45 average in 44 ODIs, and Rahul has a 45 average in 52 innings. In 18 games, the average rises to 53 at position No. 5. Samson, of course, averages 55 over just 12 innings (during which time he went no-hitter in five). To create a reliable comparison, the sample size is insufficient.
Samson did nothing noteworthy to further his cause or influence the selectors’ minds while they were gone. He scored just nine and 51 runs in the two ODIs he played in the West Indies (three other batters outscored him), and he managed just 123 runs in the eight subsequent T20Is.
These are appallingly low totals if you’re attempting to make a last-ditch effort to regain lost ground. His desperation showed in his careless shooting and poor situational judgment. He had to display his skills behind the stumps in order to push Rahul out to the side, but the selectors were unable to see him. What comes to mind instead is Yuzvendra Chahal’s furious expression when Samson spilled a catch of his bowling in Guyana.
This has been his life’s experience; he rarely performs in crucial situations (IPL final, one fifty-plus score at an average of 21 and a strike rate of 116 in seven play-off games), only to be outclassed and eclipsed by more driven rivals. He simply didn’t take advantage of his opportunities, which is not the result of bias, favoritism, or bad luck.
