Kerala captain Sanju Samson missed a golden chance to boost his chances of finding a place in the Indian squad for the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup. The 29-year-old, who sat out the first two matches of the series against Afghanistan, fell for a first-ball duck in the third and final T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday night.
Sanju had scored a match-winning 108 against South Africa in the ODI series decider last month at Paarl and forced his way back into the T20I squad. The Indian team management preferred the big-hitting Jitesh Sharma as wicketkeeper in the first two matches.
Sanju walked in to bat with the Men in Blue struggling at 21/3 at the end of four overs. However, as he has done many times in the past, the right-hander adopted an overaggressive approach first up and paid the price. Sanju could only edge the ball as he attempted a big hit off a short-pitched ball from left-arm pacer Fareed Ahmad. Senior batter Virat Kohli had perished in the same fashion earlier in the innings.
However, Sanju was impressive behind the stumps. He pulled off a brilliant leg-side stumping to dismiss Afghan captain Ibrahim Zadran for 50 and then effected a direct hit to catch Karim Janat short of his crease in the final stages of the Afghan chase.
The selectors are yet to decide on the stumper's slot for this June's T20 World Cup. K L Rahul, Jitesh, Ishan Kishan and Sanju in addition to Rishabh Pant, who is on the road to recovery after suffering a car accident in December, 2022, are in the reckoning.
The game against Afghanistan was India's last T20I fixture ahead of the mega event. Sanju's hopes of making it to the World Cup will depend a lot on how he fares for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024.
