Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has backed Sanju Samson to get an extended run till year end. India secured a convincing seven-wicket win against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday and Samson played a key role in the win.

Samson got off to a sedate start in his innings, scoring eight runs off the first 10 balls. However, he was able to change gears after getting his eye in, smashing 49 runs off the next 11 deliveries, thus reaching his fifty off only 20 balls. This was Samson’s fastest T20I fifty as he batted at the top of his game.

Meanwhile, Samson was dropped in the T20I series against Zimbabwe. Furthermore, he played only two out of the five T20Is against England.

Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “Samson has performed well and is coming off a half-century. I feel he should get an extended run till the end of the year. He has scored two centuries and won India the World Cup. Though he hasn’t delivered extraordinary performances like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, he was already there in the line. So why do you have to drop him to bring in another youngster? Give Sanju an extended run and then decide.”

“Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson should open in the next 10 T20Is after this series. After that, if Sanju Samson fails, drop him and pick Sooryavanshi. They should follow this process instead of alternating between the two from one series to the next. I feel this has been unfair to Samson.”

Badrinath highlighted that Samson is a bit inconsistent but he gets drop faster than other players.

“Yes, Sanju is not the most consistent. But that’s his nature as a cricketer. The difference between Sanju and others is that Sanju gets dropped faster if he just fails in two or three innings. However, other players get five to six chances,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

The third and final T20I between Afghanistan and India will be played at Delhi on Thursday.