India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate indicated that skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma are expected to bat at numbers 3 and 4, which means Sanju Samson, despite appearing distinctly uncomfortable, would need to figure out how to pace his innings at number 5 in the Asia Cup.
“Yeah, I think there’s two outings now, two decent chances and he’s still figuring out how to play that role. I think the wicket was a little bit tighter in the Pakistan game,” Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters.
Samson made a laborious 17-ball 13 against Pakistan in the Super 4s match.
“But certainly with the way Shubman (Gill) and Abhi (Abhishek) are going at the top and you’ve got your captain batting at three and the way Tilak played (vs Pakistan), we’re really
looking for a No.5.
“So we believe Sanju is the best man for that job and we’ve got no doubt that he’ll figure out how to play that role in the future,” he noted.
‘Not Happy With Performance’
Ryan highlighted the team’s approach for the upcoming match against Bangladesh, emphasising the principle of “respect everyone, fear no one.” He also noted that Team India was not completely satisfied with their performance against Pakistan, describing it as “scrappy.”
“Our general principle is to respect everyone, fear no one. It is more about our process and what we are trying to achieve. The focus will be on putting our best game out again. We actually thought we were a bit scrappy against Pakistan. We were not happy with their performance. We just had a team meeting now, and as we always do, we try to address the things we feel we can be better at and more clinical at. So regardless whether it is Bangladesh or Oman or whoever we are facing, the guys tomorrow will be trying to put their best foot forward and give their best performance,” he added.
(With inputs from Agencies)
