IND vs WI, 2nd T20I: With less than 24 hours to go for the second T20I against the West Indies, former Test batter Cheteshwar Pujara has opened up on whether or not Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should replace Sanju Samson at the top for India. The debate comes after Samson’s failure in the opening T20I against the West Indies and Sooryavanshi waiting in the wings. What does Pujara think?
IND vs WI, 2nd T20I: Should Vaibhav Sooryavanshi replace Sanju Samson at the top? Cheteshwar Pujara answers
Sooryavanshi, the left-handed batter has made eight international appearances after debuting earlier this year against England at the Old Trafford in Manchester but is yet to play a game in India. While Shreyas Iyer didn’t offer any explanation about why the teenage prodigy is out of the playing XI in the first T20I, the general thinking is that Team India don’t want to tinker with the combination of Abhishek Sharma and Samson at the top. While Sooryavanshi opened with Abhishek Sharma during the Asian Games and Samson batted at number three, the Men in Blue have returned to Samson and Abhishek as openers for home T20Is. The pair also joined forces in the preceding bilateral T20I series against Afghanistan as the reigning world champions swept them aside 3-0. But the Kerala-born cricketer managed only 11 runs in the first T20I against the West Indies and its his highest score in the last four innings.
However, Pujara, speaking to JioHotstar, threw weight behind Samson and stated:
“I hope that there is no pressure on him, because there shouldn’t be. He has won a World Cup for the Indian team and performed exceptionally well there. He’s a quality player. So there shouldn’t be any questions around him being part of the playing XI. Yes, you might have one or two bad games, and then if he has that, that’s the time when the team management has to step in, to give him the right message that, ‘You are an important part of this team and will be part of this playing XI, so just go out there, express yourself, play your natural game.’”
IND vs WI, 2nd T20I: What is India’s T20I record in Ranchi
With Ranchi set to host the second T20I, the hosts have a strong record at the venue.
The only T20I out of four they have lost came against New Zealand in early 2023.
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