Pant or Samson: Who will play for India in ODI series against New Zealand
It’s now nearly impossible to predict which Indian wicketkeeper batter will actually play in a given game. The team alternated between using the young Pant and the 36-year-old Karthik to play. But that was a T20 scenario, in a 50-over game, the situation will be completely different.
As they see a future captain in Pant, so he will get every opportunity to play over Samson in ODI format.
Pant, no doubt is an excellent batter and what he did during the third ODI versus England in Manchester will be remembered for long. His unbeaten 125-run knock came at a tough time when India was chasing the target of 262 and lost their top three, Rohit, Rahul and Kohli, Pant not just rescued the side but also helped India to win the game and the series.
He, however, not playing that well in the T20Is, but if we look at overall figures of Pant in ODIs, that is also quite good. In 27 matches he played so far for India in ODIs, he managed to hit 840 runs at an average of 36.52.
Sanju Samson is a good ODI batter
Samson is no different, he, however, only managed to play ten ODI games as of now, but with the help of two fifties he recorded 294 runs at an average of 73.50 and with a good strike rate of 106.13.
With this kind of strike rate he carries in ODIs, he will surely deserve a place in the team, he can be a handy player down the order, as there is no chance he can open, with Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill there as openers, Suryakumar and Shreyas will bat at no.3 and 4 in no particular order. While Rishabh Pant will play at no.5. Deepak Hooda will play at no.6, and it will be interesting to see if he gets any opportunity to feature in the team.
Sanju Samson can play a good role in New Zealand
Samson is a magnificent player when he can use the pace of the bowler and the pitch and he can be a handy batter at top of the order or even at anchoring or finishing role in bouncy pitches in New Zealand.
But it is hard to give him a place since above six will play for sure while remaining, three pacers Arshdeep Singh, Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar alongside Yuzvendra Chahal is a settled main bowling department. Hooda will bowl some overs too, but Indian team will need for another all-rounder combination and Washington Sundar may get the chance.
In these too many days, several cricket pundits have expressed their views on the Pant and Samson debate, with recently India’s captain for T20 series against New Zealand, Hardik Pandya, also shared his views on the same.
Pandya stated that he knows the pain of sitting out of team and they also wanted to play him but they are unable to for some reason.
