“With all that talent, sometimes he tends to frustrate you” – Abhinav Mukund on Sanju Samson’s half-century in 5th IND vs ZIM T20I

Indian batter Abhinav Mukund hailed Sanju Samson for scoring a half-century against Zimbabwe in the fifth T20I at the Harare Sports Club, Harare on Sunday. However, Mukund noted that Samson hasn’t made the most of his talent in the past as he has delivered inconsistent performances.

Samson, who joined the squad for the last three T20Is against the African nation, scored a crucial knock of 58 runs off 45 balls with the help of one four and four sixes, including a 110-metre long maximum.

Thus, Samson’s fifty helped India in posting 167 runs on the board after the visitors were put into bat by Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza.

“It’s a tough place to be Sanju Samson in Indian cricket because with all that talent, sometimes he tends to frustrate you, he doesn’t show the maturity. I feel that’s where captaining in the IPL, like he told me earlier, has really helped him because he plays with superstars but he also deals with youngsters as well like Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal,” Abhinav Mukund said on Sony Sports.

The former Indian opener added that Samson proved he is in contention for the wicket-keeper spot in T20Is along with Rishabh Pant.

“That’s where you see his maturity as a batter come through. There is immense competition for a wicketkeeper slot in Indian cricket at the moment, and Sanju Samson has just put his hand up today and said ‘Listen, I am still here, so you better not count me out in any of these conversations’,” Mukund said.

On the other hand, former Zimbabwe cricketer Tino Mawoyo concurred with Mukund, praising Samson for the way he paced his innings.

“I liked the word you used to describe his innings today – mature, because I thought that’s what he was. We have seen Sanju Samson, we have seen him try and take on spinners early, sometimes it happens and it works out for him, and sometimes it doesn’t. But today, I thought he was magnificent in how he paced his innings,” he explained.

Mawoyo hailed Samson for his shot-making and lauded him for his glorious extra-cover hit against leg-spinner Brandon Mavuta.

“He realized that it was important for him at that stage to make sure he batted through the innings and he did that. He played two glorious strokes which he just timed, over extra cover to the spinner and the seamer. When you can play shots like that in T20 cricket, things are going very well for you because a lot of it is wanting to force the ball. He played some really good shots today,” Mawoyo observed.

India will next take on Sri Lanka in three-match T20I series, starting from July 27.