The difficult task of selecting between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson for the three-match T20 International series against Sri Lanka, which begins on Saturday, will fall to new India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Even though the majority of the team that won the T20 World Cup, with the exception of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, are based in the island nation, it will be difficult to choose between Pant and Samson, two colorful wicketkeeper batters.
Even worse, one cannot fit both of the powerful hitters into the available spots. Samson, despite being a member of the team, did not play in any of the games. Pant, on the other hand, finished third for India in the T20 World Cup in the Americas with 171 runs.
Lately, a bilateral series versus Sri Lanka has taken on a low-stakes nature since the two nations frequently play meaningless series, some of which India participates in to support other international cricket boards.
One such series was meant to be the one against Sri Lanka, but since Gambhir became the team’s coach and Suryakumar Yadav overtook Hardik Pandya, who was a lock to be captain, the series has taken on more importance.
Given this context, the inclusion of Gambhir—a highly opinionated former opener for India and an accomplished franchise-level coach—would undoubtedly give him more influence over the makeup of the team, which will be determined over the course of the next two years in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.
India’s selection of a keeper-batter in T20 Internationals hasn’t always been easy, particularly when Pant was sidelined following a terrible automobile accident in December 2022.
Ishan Kishan was well-liked for a while before losing his appeal and quitting the South Africa tour in the middle of it. Samson, Jitesh Sharma, and Dhruv Jurel have all appeared in a few games.
One of Pant’s peers, Samson, has played 28 T20 International matches thus far, scoring 133 runs at a strike rate and hitting a few fifty. Though he made his debut in 2015, it is reasonable to claim that 27 of those games have occurred between 2020 and the present. Thus, playing 27 games irregularly over a period of three and a half years is not a lot of games to develop confidence.
Although average is a little less significant factor in the shortest format, the Kerala star acknowledges that 21.14 isn’t a fair representation of his enormous potential. However, Pant has three fifties and a strike-rate just under 127 in his 74 T20I appearances. Samson’s average so resembles that of the captain of the Delhi Capitals, who scored 22.70 goals per game.
There is not much to differentiate between the two in terms of sheer numbers. Both are daring strike producers; Pant’s plummeting pull shots are impressive, while on his day, Samson is capable of hitting the fastest bowlers over extra cover for maximums.
Additionally, it will only be determined by how the new team management feels. While Samson was in the squad, he wasn’t even discussed during the T20 World Cup, and Rohit Sharma has unwavering faith in Pant’s ability.
However, Samson played the final three games in Zimbabwe on the next tour after the T20 World Cup, when Shubman Gill was named vice captain and most first XI lads were rested.
While Pant is a considerably superior keeper than spinners like Ravi Bishnoi, keeping ability isn’t as crucial in T20Is because there aren’t many balls that would cause problems for the glovesmen.
Even before he played for the India U-19s, Gambhir saw Pant as an eighteen-year-old and was his first captain in the first class. However, throughout his time as a TV analyst, he has also been a strong supporter of Samson’s T20 abilities and has spoken out in favor of his selection.
It will be a difficult decision, and even if Pant is selected for the series, he is aware that in order to accumulate runs quickly and hold Samson at bay, he will also need to play a few big innings.
