Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Sanju Samson for playing a classy knock in the first T20I between India and Bangladesh in Gwalior on Sunday, October 6. He also recalled India’s current head coach Gautam Gambhir’s statement from the past about him deserving to play for India.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “You need to talk about Sanju Samson. Abhishek Sharma was playing amazingly well until he was there but he got run out. But how well did Sanju play. Gautam Gambhir said long back that if Sanju Samson doesn’t play for India, it’s India’s loss. He was made to open.”

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“The silken touch was seen. He wasn’t hitting the ball hard. It seemed like he didn’t want to hurt the ball, and he was hitting one four after another. When everyone was hitting, he also hit but by caressing the ball. You were getting hit, you were bleeding but you were not feeling the pain,” Chopra again stated.

Sanju Samson hit six fours in his 29-run knock. He was the only Indian batter not to hit a six in Sunday’s game as well. In the same video, Aakash Chopra also wished Sanju Samson had prolonged his innings.

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“He is good. He scored 29 runs. My only thing was that since he had reached here, he should go slightly further ahead. He should score a few more runs because, otherwise, they would drop him. He keeps moving in and out (of the side), and up and down (the batting order). At least, he got a good start, and I really hope that a big knock comes in Delhi or the last match in Hyderabad, so that you stay in everybody’s thoughts. Suryakumar Yadav also said that the captain will play like this. It was a dominating performance. In fact, the ball he got out to wasn’t a wicket-taking ball, he played a good shot as well, but just found a fielder in the deep,” Aakash Chopra concluded.