Still hopeful of Sanju Samson doing well, insists Aakash Chopra

Sanju Samson has played just eight T20I matches in his five-year-long international career and has never been able to cement his place due to his own inconsistent performances. In the T20I series, with many players unavailable, he was expected to play a bigger role but runs have eluded him. However, Aakash Chopra still has hopes on Samson turning the table and putting up a strong performance for the Indian T20 side.

“I am still hopeful of Sanju Samson doing well. I know he is not batting at the position that he is comfortable at. Sanju Samson has only played nine matches. You have expectations from those players who, you know, have the capability. Sanju Samson has that ability to perform. He is comparatively more experienced compared to the others, maybe not at the international level but definitely in the IPL. He has been playing the IPL for a long time and is even the captain of a franchise (Rajasthan Royals). I have high hopes from him,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Even though Shikhar Dhawan has been posed a huge challenge from the younger teammates like Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan as far as a place in the T20 World Cup is concerned, he has been sensible in his approach. Instead of taking on the bowlers from the word go, which was a feature of his batting in the Indian Premier League, Dhawan has taken his own sweet time to open up to cover up India's lack of batting resources down the order.

“Shikhar Dhawan needs to keep playing in a sensible manner that he has been doing. Dhawan and Sanju Samson will be the pillars of the batting lineup in the final T20I. What the others like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, and Nitish Rana score will be a bonus. If Dhawan and Sanju Samson take India to a par score, then you never know what can happen. This Sri Lankan team doesn’t know how to cross the finish line. Even in the second T20I, they got stuck a bit,” Chopra added.