'You get stuck and…': Pietersen rubbishes criticism of Sanju Samson's technique vs short balls despite flop show
Kevin Pietersen heaped praise on Sanju Samson and expressed shock that he had not received consistent chances in the past.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen shared his assessment of Indian openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma's inconsistency at the top of the order. After the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, India have stuck with the opening pair of Samson and Abhishek in the shortest format. Under Suryakumar Yadav's leadership, the Men in Blue adopted a fearless batting approach, where there isn't a high probability for a batter to score big runs in every match.
Abhishek played a match-winning knock in the first T20I but then failed to make much of an impact in the next two matches, while Samson registered a couple of single-digit scores and 26 in the series opener.
Pietersen also suggested that playing an attacking brand of cricket doesn't guarantee success every time, but he backed Samson and said he has a good track record with this approach.
"I just think that on occasions you get stuck and that's life. You've got to take risks at the top of the order. Same as Abhishek Sharma, same as all these batters. They're taking risks at the top of the order. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but more often than not, Samson comes up with the goods," Pietersen said on Star Sports.
The former English skipper heaped praise on Samson and expressed shock that he had not received consistent chances in the past.
"I think mentally he's sound. I really like Sanju Samson as a batter. I actually love him. I was pretty surprised that he hasn't had more of a consistent role over the last few years. Yes, he's got a game here at the top of the order, but listen, these things happen. Things happen so quickly in the shortest form of the game," he added.
‘Samson plays the short ball extremely well’
Samson struggled a bit in the ongoing series on the short balls, but Pietersen feels there isn't fault in his technique, and he is not going to raise questions about it.
"If he keeps doing it over the next six weeks or he does it over the next couple of months, then I'd probably have a look at it and start to question his technique. But I think that he's a fabulous player. I think he plays the short ball extremely well, and I just think he’s a rock solid player. So from that standpoint, there's no way that I'm going to stand here and critique his play of the short ball," he concluded.
