Ajinkya Rahane believes that India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir need to step in and help Sanju Samson get out of his rut of low scores. Rahane advised the leaders to reassure
Samson that he would get the remaining two games of the five-T20I series against New Zealand as well as matches in the 2026 T20 World Cup, just so he doesn’t shatter his confidence completely.
Samson has gone through a roller coaster in the last six months. He was the regular opener, with a cemented place, but was asked to bat in the middle-order to accommodate Shubman Gill and eventually dropped for bad form. Gill’s failures led to his recall at the top of the order but he has put up scores of 10, 6, and 0 in the first three matches against the Kiwis.
“That’s where I feel the team management’s role and the captain’s role will be crucial, telling Sanju Samson that you’re going to play all these matches and also in the World Cup as well,” Rahane said on Cricbuzz. “So don’t worry about your place. Sometimes, when you have a guy like Abhishek Sharma at the other end who’s going really strong… Sanju Samson will have this pressure on himself as he’s basically trying to match him. The only thing for Sanjay Samson is sticking to his own game plan and backing himself,” he added.
The bigger trouble for Samson is the excellent form of Ishan Kishan. Picked as a backup wicketkeeper for this series, Kishan batted at number three in Tilak Varma’s absence, notching scores of 8, 76 and 28.
Don’t compare Abhishek and Samson: Rahane
Rahane advised against comparisons between Abhishek, who’s in even better form and scored a 14-ball half-century on Sunday, and Samson. He advised the latter to accept that he might need to see out a couple of overs to get back into form.
“It’s always about your belief. It’s always about going out there and playing with freedom, backing yourself. We spoke about Abhishek Sharma at the other end. Well, let’s not compare them. Since Sanju Samson has a different ability, he should just go out there and think about the innings that he has played for Rajasthan Royals. He should go out there expressing himself and get back in form, probably, with a 15-ball 25, 20-ball 30 or 35. But I think spending that little bit more time and take that first over out, the second over out, and then take the game on from there on,” said Rahane.
India and New Zealand play the fourth T20I on Wednesday, January 28.
