“Support can fade quickly” - Irfan Pathan urges Sanju Samson to attain consistency in T20Is

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has reckoned that the Indian keeper-batter Sanju Samson needs to have a fixed batting position in order to succeed well in the shortest format of the game.

While Samson is usually an opening batter, scoring three T20I centuries at that position, he was later demoted to the middle-order in the Asia Cup 2025 campaign as Shubman Gill was elevated as the vice-captain, opening the innings.

“As for Sanju Samson, if he keeps moving up and down the batting order like this, I’m not sure how effective that will be. I know that in T20 cricket, apart from the openers, no one really has a fixed position, and flexibility is important. But in the name of flexibility, you shouldn’t become so elastic that you lose the stability that comes with having defined roles,” Pathan said on his YouTube Channel.

“When you keep changing a player’s role repeatedly, things naturally change. Playing against the older ball in the middle overs, which Sanju Samson did during the Asia Cup, is very different from opening the innings, where he had scored three centuries. It requires a different mindset and a lot of mental strength, along with strong backing from the team,” he added.

While Samson was slotted at No.5 in the first T20I against Australia, he was promoted to the No.3 spot in the second T20I in Melbourne, scoring only two runs in four balls at a strike rate of 50.

“There’s no doubt he’s getting the support he needs. But that support can fade quickly if a player has three or four failures in a row. Hopefully, that won't happen with Sanju Samson," he concluded.

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