Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has pointed out a fatal flaw in opener Sanju Samson’s batting technique that has led to his downfall in the recent three T20Is against Ireland and England. Samson had a fruitful outing in T20 World Cup 2026 for India.
He followed it up with a solid season for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026, hitting two centuries. However, his return to India colors have resulted in scores of 5 and 0 against Ireland in T20Is. Then Samson fell for 1 run in the first T20I against England in Durham on July 1.
Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan pointed out a technical flaw in Samson’s game, saying that if the ball is bowled outside the off-stump, there is a chance of dismissing the Kerala batter.
“You want to take the ball away from Sanju Samson. Even if you don’t take the ball away, you want to keep the line outside the off-stump because his bat face remains closed. When his bat face is closed and he tries to play on the off-side, the bat face opens up at times,” Pathan said on JioHotStar.
This was a very good observation by Pathan, as in the first T20I in Ireland, Samson inside edged the ball onto his stumps; in the second game, he was beaten by a delivery that came back. Then against England, Samson tried to play a swat on a delivery outside his off-stump, but was caught brilliantly by Tom Banton.
“That’s why we have seen him getting out in the slips, caught behind, and behind square many times. The thought process was to get him out with that plan. The field was changed, the bowler bowled that line, a slightly shorter length was bowled, where the ball was stopping a little, and Sanju got out there,” Pathan elaborated.
On the same show, ex-India keeper and selector Saba Karim, stated that Samson has a tendency to go through streaks of low and high scores.
“He got out to the seventh ball. On the six balls he had played before this, it seemed like either a big shot or a wicket was loading, and such phases come in Sanju’s career. If his wicket falls, it falls in the first 10 balls. If he comes out from that, he plays a very big knock. The length they bowled kept Sanju in check. He didn’t get the elevation or room to play shots.
His go-to shot against seam bowlers is to hit over the infield. The England pace bowlers prevented that, and that’s why a little pressure was mounting on Sanju. This situation has come in Sanju Samson’s career many times. However, I expect that he will come out of here and play a big knock for sure,” Karim said.
It remains to be seen whether Samson gets another chance in the second T20I against England in Manchester on July 4, or India opts to hand a T20I debut to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
(JioHotStar inputs)
