Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer stressed that the Indian cricket team management should start giving opportunities to Sanju Samson in the ODI format after Suryakumar Yadav had a nightmarish series against Australia at home.
Suryakumar was dismissed for three consecutive golden ducks in the recent ODI series against Australia, and Jaffer said that he does sympathize with the star batter, but he feels the time has come to look at Samson or someone else in the 50-over format.
Notably, Samson had better numbers than Suryakumar, and the former opener believes that the Kerala star should be Team India’s choice in the upcoming ODI matches keeping in mind the 2023 World Cup.
While Samson has scored 330 runs at an average of 66 in 11 ODIs so far, Suryakumar has so far scored 433 runs in 23 matches at an average of 24.05.
Wasim Jaffer was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo: “I would probably sympathize with him. It doesn't happen with probably a number eleven batter. It's one of those things that you get out for a golden duck three times in a row. It probably would never happen to him again, hopefully. It's just bad luck to him.”
He continued, “But I think India need to look somewhere else. Even though he is a quality player, he would come out pretty good as the IPL will start and he will be in his element. But India needs to look at Sanju Samson or somewhere else and still stick with Surya because he is a quality player.”
Jaffer signed off by saying, “If he comes good, we all know he is a quality player and so you just don't need to keep him aside. If IPL goes well, we will be tempted to play him again but India needs to look at Sanju Samson as well.”
