Sanju Samson decepcionado por su debut en el Trofeo Duleep, continúa llevando la etiqueta de hit & miss

Sanju Samson disappoints—you could start around 90% of your articles like this when writing about the Kerala phenom. Just when you think, right, he’s getting things on track, Samson does something that not even his staunch admirers can defend by saying: that was the right thing to do there. 

Coming after two disappointing series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, where he hit just 70 runs in 4 innings, Samson has gone out for 5 in his first first-class outing since February. As has been the case, it wasn’t a jaffa, nor was Samson unlucky. He simply hit a short ball that he miscued to the hands of the fielder at mid-on.

This isn’t new. While most have seen him in white-ball cricket, where he’s wasted opportunities one after another, his record in red-ball cricket isn’t better. An average of 38.54 in first-class cricket isn’t great, especially when comparing him to other wicketkeepers like Dhruv Jurel, Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant, who all average more with the bat.

His keeping skills aren’t near the other three, especially Jurel and Pant. So, his batting has to stand out. He’s been playing first-class cricket for the last 13 years and has nothing to show up for yet. In the last Ranji Trophy season (2023-24), Samson averaged just 35.4 and scored just one fifty in 6 innings.