'The ball seems to be rushing onto him...' - Former cricketer criticizes Sanju Samson for his poor technique during T20I series against England

Team India's dominant performance in T20I cricket continues as they beat England in the recently concluded five-match T20I series, 4-1. It was a class act by the entire team, who stood up and contributed through their performance whenever they could. However, it was a forgettable series for wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, who failed to perform in the entire series. Criticizing his batting technique, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar made a brief analysis.  

"The England bowlers are bowling into his body, so he's sort of cramped for room trying to play that shot. He doesn't get room because he's not coming inside the line of the ball to play. Plus, I think he's getting a little slow. The ball seems to be rushing onto him, so that's something that he needs to work on. The way he started off, the pull shot worked for him twice. He has started this new thing - going outside leg stump with the back foot trigger movement and then looking to play everything on the offside. Anything on the leg side, he was just playing a fine glance," said Sanjay Manjrekar. 

Overall, in five games, Sanju Samson has scored just 51 runs, at an average of 10.2. This has been a disappointing series for the Kerala batter, but he would hope to turn the tables in the upcoming IPL season. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma slammed a century in 37 balls, entertaining the Mumbai crowd. England lost the last game by 150 runs. 

We need to be patient: Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar also backed the player and urged everyone to be patient with him since he has performed well in the past. Samson scored three centuries in T20Is in 2024. He is an amazing batter, but his performance is not consistent. However, the Board will surely give him another chance in the upcoming series. 

"Little street smartness at the right time should see him through. As I said before, the guys when they play well, the kind of peaks that they reach..., so when they down at the bottom, we need to be patient," added Manjrekar.