Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at Sanju Samson for showing ‘no footwork’ in 4th T20I

Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the Indian opening batter Sanju Samson for losing his wicket without proper footwork in the penultimate T20I against New Zealand on Wednesday, January 28, in Visakhapatnam, as India suffered a 50-run loss eventually.

While commentating during India’s chase in the fourth T20I, Gavaskar asserted that Samson played Mitchell Santner with no proper footwork, which resulted in him losing his wicket for 24 runs off 15 balls with three fours and a six. 

Notably, this was the fourth consecutive low score for Samson in the ongoing New Zealand series. Samson could score only 40 runs in four games in the ongoing T20I series against the Blackcaps, while Ishan Kishan performed exceptionally well at No.3. 

"My first impression is that there was no footwork at all. I'm not very sure whether there was any turn; the first impression was he was just standing there, making room and playing through the off side," Gavaskar said on air.

"Like I said, there was hardly any movement of the feet. Going outside leg-stump, once again exposing all three stumps-and when you miss, the bowler's going to hit. That's what happened to Sanju Samson for the second time around," he added.

Shifting our focus to the details of the fourth T20I, New Zealand batted and managed to post an imposing total of 215/7 in 20 overs, thanks to Devon Conway's 44 and Tim Seifert's 62. Daryl Mitchell also played an exceptional cameo in the death overs.

In the second innings, India lost wickets at regular intervals as they got bundled out for 165 runs in 18.4 overs. All-rounder Shivam Dube was the top batter with 65 runs in 23 balls with three fours and seven sixes. New Zealand captain, Mitchell Santner, pocketed a three-wicket haul for the Kiwis.

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