Sanju Samson faces a race against time to make his own case. The Kerala batter was restored to the top of the order for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Sanju was preferred ahead of vice-captain Shubman Gill, restoring his partnership with Abhishek Sharma at the top of the order.
However a return of 16 runs in three games has landed himself in hot water again. Inconsistency has long been Samson's achilles heel, and now it threatens to rob of a place in the starting XI.
"Sanju is one knock away from getting that confidence, getting that form back. For us, building up to the World Cup it's important for the guys to find that peak performance at the right time. He's training well, he's hitting the ball very well," Morne Morkel said on the eve of the IND vs NZ 4th T20I.
What has compounded Sanju's matters is the form of Ishan Kishan. The left-hander forced his way into reckoning with a record breaking SMAT T20 campaign with Jharkhand. Picked for the IND vs NZ T20Is in Tilak Varma's absence, Kishan has amazed one and all with his hitting.
As per PTI, Sanju Samson spent more than 30 minutes at nets facing various bowlers such as Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Abhishek and side-armer Raghu in Vizag. He then spoke to head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on the sides of nets where Shreyas Iyer went about his task.
Tilak Varma is likely to return straight into the playing XI during the ICC t20 World Cup 2026. That leaves just one more spot in the line up, with Ishan Kishan and Sanju both fighting for the same. Sanju, should he feature in the IND vs NZ 4th t20I, will need to find runs before the bench finds him.
