India batsman-keeper Sanju Samson trended on social media as Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl against Ireland in the first T20I in Dublin. It was Deepak Hooda who overtook the RR captain, and the batsman scored 47 crucial runs to take his team home, but Samson last played a game India Had to miss back in February. Nonetheless, the Kerala player tried his best to cheer up the fans as he posed for a selfie with them.
#Sanju Entertaining his fans, by his presence, what if not asked to play matches? #INDvIRE I#attack – Time for tonight #teamindia Wrap up 2:0 Hope you don’t come to spoil#IREvIND #IndvsEng #HardikPandya #rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/Zl0eeVIGqq
— daebakankita💃 (@DaebakankitaF) June 28, 2022
Samson led Rajasthan Royals in the final of IPL 2022 but failed to make it big with his bat. This was another season where Samson sold himself short. Samson has scored 458 runs in 17 innings including this innings at an average of 28.62 and a strike rate of 146.79, including two half-centuries.
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Ashish Nehra explained why Hooda was given priority over Samson. He said that since Hooda was already in the team and did not play a single match against South Africa, he had to be picked before the likes of Rahul Tripathi and himself as they came into the team later.
“No, it’s not a tough call. Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi have come in for Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Deepak Hooda was already in the team and Venkatesh Iyer didn’t even play the match against South Africa. And the way performance, Deepak Hooda did in IPL, as he is one of those players who played for Rajasthan in Ranji Trophy, scored runs throughout the season, then in IPL too,” he wrote on Sony Liv’s pre match show ‘Extras’ Innings’ told.
“He started the tournament playing 5 or 6 (for LSG) and then was promoted to No. 3 and did well there as well. So their confidence should be high.”
“And it is good to see that he was in the squad before Samson came and was supported in front of him. He is an honest player and we know a lot of T20 matches are coming. And as we saw that the team was the same in all the five matches against South Africa, he will be expected to stick with him.
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