India’s Sanju Samson (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has thrown his weight behind Sanju Samson, insisting that a short run of poor scores has not shaken the team management’s faith in the wicket-keeper batsman. Samson has struggled in the ongoing five-match T20I series against New Zealand, managing just 40 runs from four outings at an average of 10. Despite the numbers, Kotak made it clear that the staff sees this as a temporary phase rather than a decline in ability.
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“Sanju is a senior player, he is very good. He probably hasn’t scored as many runs as everyone would have liked, but that is part of a cricket career. Sometimes you have five innings in a row where you score so many runs and sometimes you have a bit of a tense period,” Kotak said while addressing the media on the eve of the fifth T20I. He emphasized that Samson has the full support of the think tank in this challenging section. “It’s all up to the individual to keep his mind strong and of course it’s our job to keep him in a good frame of mind. He trains and works hard so we all know what Sanju is capable of. I don’t think I can say anything about Sanju because he was really good,” he added. Those words echoed on the practice court at Greenfield Stadium, where Samson spent nearly half an hour hitting the nets. He started by facing the sidearms of Hari and Raghu, then took on Axar Patel’s left-arm spinner. The session was followed by a short discussion with head coach Gautam Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel. If he features on Saturday, it will be Samson’s first international appearance on his home turf. Kotak also highlighted the value of the recent white-ball matches as India fine-tuned their preparations for the T20 World Cup, citing the New Zealand-South Africa series as important building blocks. “It was a very important series for us. Of course it’s useful because before the World Cup you start getting into a rhythm, you start looking for combinations and you try to give players an opportunity,” he said. “Everything you can do when we’re playing. So these five games and of course the South Africa (series) before that is also very helpful for us.” While picking the team, Kotak hinted that Ishan Kishan is likely to return for the T20I final after missing the previous match due to injury. “Ishan Kishan has always been good whenever he got an opportunity. Sometimes wicket-keeper batsmen don’t get an opportunity. But whenever Ishan has played, he has always done well,” he said. “And very likely (he’ll play), at this point, as far as I know. The physio is here for practice. So the physio will call. But I feel very likely.” Kotak credited the presence of naturally aggressive players like Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma for enabling India to maintain an attacking approach throughout the series. He reserved special praise for Abhishek’s clarity and technique, noting that his stroke play is rooted in solid fundamentals rather than reckless hitting. “He talks to Gautam, he talks to me and Surya and also some other players. So he is very open to everything,” Kotak said, adding that Abhishek’s batting is played “on a ball-by-ball basis” with strong fundamentals. The batting coach was also delighted to see captain Suryakumar rediscover form with back-to-back half-centuries after a quiet spell. “There will be a dry patch in T20s and you still have to go hard, you still have to play for the team, which he did. I’m glad he got a good two innings, that’s a good sign for the team anyway,” Kotak said.
