Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta has backed the opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson for the T20I series against Afghanistan. Samson has returned to the T20I squad after he was rested for the Zimbabwe tour.
Samson and Abhishek had opened the innings together in the first T20I against England. Samson was then dropped in the next three games and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was given his chance. Samson then replaced Sooryavanshi in the final T20I against the hosts.
Dasgupta highlighted that India hasn’t yet tried the opening combination of Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The pair has also played together for Rajasthan Royals in the past.
Deep Dasgupta said on his YouTube Channel, “Straight away, if you think about the last match (England T20Is), it was Sanju and Abhishek. Leave Zimbabwe aside. When all three were available, Sanju and Abhishek were there. I think we haven’t seen the Sanju-Vaibhav combination yet. So far, we’ve seen Abhishek-Vaibhav and Abhishek-Sanju, right? It’s not a bad idea to even try and see what kind of combination Sanju and Vaibhav can make.
“Again, I’m not saying, please don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about dropping anyone here. I’m just saying, reiterating again, that the idea is that before the World Cup, you want to give every combination and every individual a proper chance and proper game time to understand what works,” he added.
The former Bengal cricketer said players will return and will be left out, but the main idea is to have a proper squad for the World Cup.
“And that’s why I’m saying that when it comes to T20 cricket, I was reading some articles where I saw people saying, ‘You know, this guy is back and this guy is back again.’ But in T20 cricket, over the next six to eight months, nobody is back and nobody is sacked. According to me, there are 20-25 players who will play in rotation. Some will be back, while some will be left out. But the idea is that two to three months before a tournament, like the World Cup, you get a proper team. Right?
Dasgupta reckons every combination should be given equal opportunities by the team management.
“All I’m saying is that you decide. If I were with that team at this point, I would think about how many matches I have over the next year. And, broadly speaking, I would try to give everyone the same number of games as much as possible. Every combination should get the same number of games,” he added.
The first T20I between Afghanistan and India will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on September 13.
