Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Sanju Samson for playing a stunning knock in the second T20I between Team India and Ireland. Samson scored 77 runs off 42 balls as India posted a massive total of 225/7 after opting to bat first. However, Ireland almost won the game before losing the game by just four runs as well.
While talking about this in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra compared Sanju Samson’s batting style to that of Rohit Sharma, explaining: “Sanju got an opportunity and he shone. When he bats, he plays very well. That’s the thing with Sanju Samson – I have never seen him bat ugly. He is a player who belongs to Rohit Sharma’s category, who whenever he plays, plays extremely beautifully, scores runs in a free-flowing manner and controls the match very well.”
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He again observed: “Sanju’s fans are there in Malahide as well because as soon as Hardik Pandya said at the toss that Sanju is playing, it erupted, it was an extremely beautiful moment for Sanju Samson as well, he got an opportunity to play as an opener.”
However, Sanju Samson replaced Ruturaj Gaikwad in India’s playing XI as the latter was ruled out of the game because of an injury he sustained while fielding in the first T20I. While Samson managed to score only 28 runs in the three innings he played as an opener for Team India in T20Is earlier, did well this time around.
While praising the Indian team management for giving him the chance as an opener, Aakash Chopra added that he paced his innings quite well. He said: “That is one thing that I liked that if Ruturaj Gaikwad was not playing, whoever came in place of him was made to open, which is a fair thing. Sanju batted well, scored 77 runs off 42 balls. The start was good, slowed down a little in the middle and then accelerated.”
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“He has also put his name in the list, another wicketkeeper-batter. I think it’s going to be a huge huge headache. Well done Sanju, when you see Sanju you observe the talent but performance is more important than potential. Converting potential to performance is the tough art and he showed it by doing it,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
