Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has advised Indian opening batter Sanju Samson to pay attention to who is sitting on the bench. Notably, his comments came right after Samson’s string of low scores in the shortest format.
It’s important to note that Samson was picked ahead of the teen batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the first T20I against the West Indies. However, Samson managed to score only 11 runs off nine balls.
“He should take some time. He knows that with Abhishek Sharma at the other end, the runs are not going to stop. Sometimes he acts hastily, and this format is such that you get stuck if you don’t connect one or two shots. Sanju will have to pay attention to who is sitting on the bench. That pressure will always be there on him. He needs to show consistency and not give the selector, captain, or coach any chance to drop him. He is a terrific player, and his consistency has been good recently,” Jaffer said on his YouTube channel.
While Samson scored consecutive fifties against Afghanistan in September 2026, he had four consecutive poor outings since then. Further, Jaffer showered praise on the Indian captain Shreyas Iyer for his match-winning century in the first T20I.
“After a very long time, Shreyas Iyer, our Sarpanch sahab, played like a Sarpanch sahab. We’ve seen this in the IPL, but it was missing in international cricket. But the way he played today, it was a treat to watch. His six-hitting made it a one-sided contest,” he added.
The action now shifts to the second T20I on Friday, October 9, in Ranchi.
India’s T20I squad vs WI: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Sanju Samson [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Naman Dhir
