Sanju Samson came out to bat at No. 3 for Team India on Friday, September 19, in Abu Dhabi against Oman and scored 56 runs from 45 balls. During his stay at the crease, the wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson from Kerala hammered 3 fours and as many sixes and also joined Virat Kohli in an elite list. Sanju Samson became the sixth Indian batter to cross the 50-run mark in an Asia Cup T20I ma
Sanju Samson made good use of much needed time in the middle as skipper Suryakumar Yadav decided to give every other playing member a hit in the centre, taking India to a healthy 188 for eight against Oman in their final Asia Cup league fixture on Friday.
With vice-captain Shubman Gill getting out cheaply, the one drop slot warranted a right hander and accordingly Sanju Samson (56 off 45 balls) got a chance to bat in the top 3. It wasn’t the smoothest of his innings on a slightly slowish track but three fours and three sixes off would certainly give him confidence ahead of the business week.
Of all his big hits, the first maximum off left-arm seamer Shah Faisal, a pick-up shot over widish long-on stood out but lack of match time showed as he did struggle to get going. Tilak Varma (29 off 18 balls), coming in at No.7, also did his bit to prop up the score.
It was pretty obvious that India would like to bat first and make full use of the 20 overs before the start of the Super 4s giving sufficient time to their under-utilized middle-order ahead of Pakistan game on Sunday. The batting order was rightly shuffled giving Sanju Samson his favourite slot, promoting Axar Patel (26 off 13 balls) ahead of specialist left-hander Tilak or batting all-rounder Shivam Dube (5).
Skipper Surya, who pushed himself down to No. 11, also gave Hardik Pandya a chance to get a few hits but he was unfortunately run-out at the non-striker’s end after a Sanju Samson straight drive deflected off bowler’s hands to hit the stumps. Left-handed Axar did his job to perfection in upping the ante and maintaining the tempo set by Abhishek Sharma, who again hit a whirlwind 38 off 15 balls — his third consecutive score of 30 or more. Towards the end, Harshit Rana also contributed with an unbeaten 13 and hit a six of the last ball.
While Shubman Gill’s low score isn’t a concern, the team management would want one of their best batters to fire in the business end of the tournament. Despite his half century at No 3, Former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer pointed out that Sanju Samson wasn’t at his fluent best on Friday, which can be suggested from his strike rate, which was under 125.
Wasim Jaffer slam’s India’s move to move Sanju Samson to No 3
Sanju Samson finally got the chance to bat in the Asia Cup 2025, with Suryakumar Yadav deciding to promote the wicketkeeper batter up in the batting order against Oman. Sanju Samson lost his opening position to Shubman Gill, but the team management showed faith in him by placing him in the middle order during India’s first two matches of the tournament, where he didn’t get an opportunity to bat.
Sanju Samson came out to bat at number 3 on Friday night and scored a half-century, but his strike rate of 124.44 came under the scanner as it doesn’t sync well with India’s fearless batting approach, which they adopted since last year’s T20 World Cup triumph. While India kept losing wickets from the other end, Sanju Samson stood tall and slammed a 41-ball half-century after slicing the ball towards the square for a boundary. He was dismissed by Faisal on 56, which included three sixes and three fours as India posted 188/8.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer pointed out that Sanju Samson wasn’t at his fluent best on Friday, which can be suggested from his strike rate, which was under 125.
“It wasn’t as fluent as Sanju generally bats. His strike rate was in the mid-120s. Generally, he has a higher strike rate,” Jaffer said on ESPNCricinfo.
Wasim Jaffer furthur described Sanju Samson’s knock against Oman as a “scratchy” but at the same time defended him. He noted that facing lesser-known associate bowlers can be tricky despite appearances. Jaffer also suggested Sanju Samson would be better suited to batting at No. 5 or No. 6 in the upcoming matches.
“That can happen against associate teams. When you don’t know the bowlers, lack of pace can do you in. It can be a little difficult. It might look easy, but it is not. It was a scratchy innings. I am happy that he got runs, but I would have liked to see him bat at No. 5 or No. 6 because he is going to play in that situation in the next three games,” he added.
Meanwhile, India went on to beat spirited Oman by 21 runs to end their league stage commitments in Asia Cup with a hat-trick of victories. In less than 48 hours, Suryakumar Yadav and Co. will once again lock horns with Pakistan in the Super 4s in Dubai and before that Indian skipper rightly decided to give his other 10 colleagues a hit in the middle while pushing himself down to number 11.
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