Former India player Suresh Raina has backed Sanju Samson to get a place in the T20 World Cup squad as he feels the veteran wicketkeeper batter has the potential to be the X-factor for the Asian giants. Samson, who made his India debut in 2015, is not a familiar face in the Indian team and didn’t get consistent chances to prove his mettle and failed to get picked in the squad for the ICC events as well.

“Sanju has made a wonderful hundred against South Africa recently. He is definitely a captain material as his mind is ticking all the time while on the field. We have some very good options for wicketkeeper-batter role — KL Rahul, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Pant whenever he comes back after getting fit,” he stated.

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“I prefer to have Sanju in the middle-order because he has a lot of shots. He plays those pick-up shots against pacers from the length. Hopefully, he performs well in the IPL too before the selectors sit down to select the team for the T20 World Cup. So, it is a good chance for Sanju against Afghanistan, and he can be our X-Factor in the World Cup,” he further added.

Recently, Sanju Samson scored a hundred against South Africa in the third ODI, while batting at the number 3 spot and hit 108 runs off 114 balls which also included 6 fours and 3 sixes.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi