Sanju Samson gets bowled during the fourth T20I in Visakhapatnam. (PTI photo) NEW DELHI: Sanju Samson’s frustrating run with the bat continued in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand with another start unchanged – and this time batting legend Sunil Gavaskar didn’t hold back. The former India captain delivered a scathing mid-air assessment after Samson was dismissed for 24 off 15 balls in the fourth T20I, pointing out the glaring technical lapses that he felt summed up the performances of the keeper and batsman.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Chasing a daunting 216 at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, India were under pressure after losing Abhishek Sharma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav cheaply. Samson looked promising early on, hitting three sharp boundaries and a six to briefly hold up the innings. However, just as he seemed to be finding his rhythm, New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner struck and sneaked one in to rattle Samson’s stumps.
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Commenting, Gavaskar immediately focused on what he felt was the root cause of the dismissal – Samson’s footwork, or lack thereof.“My first impression is that there was no footwork at all. I’m not too sure if there was any turnover. The first impression was that he was just standing there, making space and playing through the offside,” Gavaskar said, offering a blunt initial diagnosis.
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After watching the replay, Gavaskar doubled down and widened the technical error that repeatedly damaged Samson against spin.“Like I said, hardly any leg movement. Going outside the leg stump, exposing all three stumps again and if you miss, the bowler hits and that’s what happened to Sanju Samson for the second time,” he added.The 24-run knock was Samson’s highest score of the series so far, after earlier setbacks of 10, 6 and 0, but it didn’t ease control much. With Ishan Kishan impressing at No.3 earlier in the series and the home T20 World Cup looming, the pressure is quickly mounting on Samson to defend his place in the playing XI.
