Samson's repeated struggle vs short balls baffle ex-IND opener: 'Don't want to trigger Sanju's fan army'

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra criticised Sanju Samson for his inconsistent performance in the ongoing T20I series against England. The swashbuckling opener failed to get going in the first four T20Is and struggled miserably on the short balls. He has been put under the scanners for his inconsistency once again as he managed to register just one double-digit score in the series thus far.

Chopra was not very impressed with Samson getting dismissed in the same fashion in the last four matches.

"India lost the toss and got to bat first. Sanju Samson once again got out in the same fashion. I don't want to trigger Sanju's fan army at all but the fact is that he has now been dismissed similarly four times."

After Rohit Sharma retired from T20Is, Sanju grabbed the opportunity with both hands. While playing as an opener in the shortest format, he showed his class against Bangladesh on home turf with a century. The wicketkeeper batter then went on to etch his name in the history book by becoming the first batter to tonk three centuries in T20Is in a calendar year. However, he had a tough start to this year and failed to make an impact so far with the bat and also failed to make it to the Champions Trophy squad.

Samson, who missed the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Kerala, came into the series evidently lacking match practice and has struggled against the express pace of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer who have troubled the Indian opener consistently.

‘Thrice against Jofra Archer and once against Saqib’

With only 35 runs in four matches so far, Samson's returns have been disappointing but it is unlikely that India would want to tinker with their opening combination at the top given that an all-out approach is a core principle of their T20 cricket.

However, Chopra feels that the repeated dismissals on the short ball are definitely a concerning sign for Samson.

"He got out to Saqib Mahmood's bowling this time. So continuously in the same fashion against the short ball, finding a fielder in the deep and once caught at mid-on, thrice against Jofra Archer and once against Saqib," Chopra added.