Sanju Samson’s slim form continued in New Zealand’s T20I series as he let slip another golden chance in Vizag on Wednesday, January 28. Samson was dismissed for 24 runs off 15 balls after going at impressive pace early in his innings.
Chasing 216 runs to win the match and take a 4-0 series lead, India soon found themselves in trouble. Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a golden duck off the first ball of the innings and Suryakumar Yadav was also soon back in the pavilion. Ishan Kishan missed the match and Shreyas Iyer remained sidelinedthis was a chance for Samson to capitalize and get two back-to-back boundaries. He was supported by Rinku Singh at the other end as the duo gave India 53 runs in the over.
Samson at one point scored almost at the rate of 200 when he finished the first six overs with a beautiful six off Jacob Duffy. However, once Mitchell Santner came to bowl, Samson just couldn’t find his rhythm and ended up playing all over the fly delivery and saw his stumps rattle.
IND vs NZ VIZAG T20I UPDATE
Is Samson in two minds with his bat?
One of the main issues with Samson so far this season has been his footwork as he tends to go back to the bowlers at the crease. Against Santner, the same problem persisted as he went too deep and couldn’t get any movement into his feet.
Ian Smith, who was on commentary, said Samson seemed to be in two minds about his batting at the moment.
“It’s not about conviction at all. It’s not even a delivery that should really get a top-order player out. He’s in two minds about batting at the moment,” Smith said.
Sunil Gavaskar was more critical of the technique from Samson as he felt he should have been on the front foot against the spinner.
“That’s what I thought. He’s always coming back and then there’s almost no front-foot movement. Now it’s understandable that we’re coming back. You don’t really need to go back to the faster bowler, the spinner. If anything, you’ve got to go as far forward as possible to try to suffocate the turn, or if there’s any kind of turn, then he’s going all three away and exposing himself, Samson has done that.” batting well,” said Gavaskar.
In the four matches he has played so far, Samson has scored 40 runs at an average of 10 and a strike rate of 142.85.
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Published on:
January 28, 2026
