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R Ashwin Gives Brutal Assessment On Sanju Samson's Weakness Against Bouncers



Sanju Samson and R Ashwin have shared the dressing room for three seasons. [Source: @Rahulm_01/X]Sanju Samson and R Ashwin have shared the dressing room for three seasons. [Source: @Rahulm_01/X]

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The recently concluded T20I series against England witnessed India wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson batting five times in a series for the first time in his career. Samson, who scored 51 runs at an average and strike rate of 10.20 and 118.60 respectively as an opener, dented the prospect of cementing his spot in the national squad yet again.

Although caught at different parts of the leg-side, Samson’s inability to take down short deliveries five times in a row against the express pace of Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Mark Wood led to his downfall.

Now, there are two ways to look at Sanju Samson’s performance across these matches. A supportive team management is looking at it from the perspective of a player getting out for the team’s cause, i.e., in the quest to score quick runs in the powerplay. On the contrary, stern critics can’t resist from pointing out a glaring weakness against the short ball.

R Ashwin Draws Similarities Between Sanju Samson’s Dismissals

Former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, an adept reader of the game, observed the similarities between Samson’s recent dismissals against England. While Ashwin wasn’t overtly critical of Samson, he seemed to be warning the 30-year-old player regarding a common pattern to his dismissals.

“If Sanju [Samson] keeps getting dismissed like this, as a batter, the mind will be playing tricks. [It will force you to think] the bowler is bowling a certain way and I am getting dismissed like this, is the bowler bowling well or do I have a shortcoming? Will I be able to adapt? Once so many questions arise, then it becomes difficult," Ashwin was quoted as saying by PTI.

Having represented Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League under Samson for three seasons, Ashwin knows a thing or two about him. Most recently, a video of him hailing Samson’s selflessness got viral across social media platforms.

(With inputs from PTI)