Sanju Samson web ST

Picture Credit: Twitter

In the latest update, wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has been added to India's T20I squad for the five-match series against West Indies. Samson is said to have come in place of KL Rahul, who was ruled out of the West Indies tour after contracting COVID-19 earlier.

India will play five T20Is against the West Indies starting from Friday, 29 July. The Men in Blue have been playing some great T20 cricket, especially against England in their last tour. After a heartbreaking loss in the rescheduled Test match, India won the three-game T20I series 2-1.

Entering this tour, Sanju Samson has been knocking on the door of the Indian team for some time now. He was part of the Ireland tour where he showcased some promise and ended up scoring an incredible 77 in the second T20I. Addressing Sanju's ability, former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria has voiced praise for the Rajasthan Royals captain.

Kaneria believes that Samson is an elegant player but needs to be given a longer run in the team as he is constantly rotated in and out. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaneria said, “Sanju is a fantastic player, no doubt about it. But he has been constantly in and out of the team. If he gets consistent opportunities, he will deliver."

"I am sure about that. Whenever he bats, he looks very elegant. He has the skill to play the long innings. From his looks, it was clear how hard he was concentrating and how focused he was during his innings," he continued.

Kaneria also talked about Samson's maturity he has shown while batting. He said, “Sanju Samson delivered with his maiden fifty. He was playing superbly but was unfortunate to get run out. He was unlucky as Deepak Hooda made the call and Samson responded. He was batting sensibly and with a lot of maturity until then."

India Squad for Five-game T20i series:

Rohit Sharma (C), Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh.