'Play Rinku Singh instead. If you play Samson..': Ex-player not happy with team management

Team India had a disappointing T20I series against the West Indies. The Hardik Pandya-led team failed to show up with their best performances ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup in October. The 5th T20 series match against the Windies witnessed India losing by 8 wickets and failing to defend their score of 165/9 in 20 overs, leading the hosts to win the series by a margin of 3-2.

3 things you need to know 

• West Indies won the final match by a score of 171-2, with 8 wickets and 2 overs in hand 
• Sanju Samson scored 32 runs in 3 matches against the WI in the T20I series 
• Nicolas Pooran was the player of the T20I series of IND vs WI

Also Read: Back to his best! Injured Indian pacer back his best ahead of IND vs IRE series - WATCH

KKR coach makes a huge statement on the Indian batter 

Abhishek Nayar,  former Indian cricketer and an assistant coach for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), talks about Sanju Samson's future, even though he didn't do well in the T20I series against the West Indies that just ended. Even though Samson had a lot of chances to make a mark during the series, he only managed to score 32 runs over three innings.

Talking to JioCinema, Nayar expressed that the position is new for Samson and said:

He hasn’t done that. I feel it was a new role for him. He played three innings, didn’t make an impression. Probably there can be a question raised that he needs to score runs if he has been given opportunities. Today he was made to bat at No. 5,”

Samson batted fifth in the fifth T20I series decider. Unfortunately, he had to face yet another setback as he only got 13 runs from 9 balls. Even though Suryakumar Yadav had a great performance with 61 runs, India was only able to score a total of 165 runs when they were up to bat first.

Also Read: Chennai Super Kings star might miss IPL 2024, likely to come out of retirement for ODI World Cup

The KKR coach wants a major star to be included in the squad 

Further adding to the point the assitant coach stated that Rinku Singh can provide more at the middle order batting. The KKR youngster had an exceptional performance in the IPL 2023. 

“I believe if you want to utilize Sanju Samson more, bat him at No. 3 because that is his number. He is used to that and he is successful there, or else don’t play him,” 

“If you are going to play him at No. 5 or No. 6, play Rinku Singh instead. If you play Samson in the top three, you will get more out of him because he plays shots in the powerplay and then plays the spinners. So I believe not the right place but he will get opportunities,”

Abhishek Nayar believed Samson will receive another shot because to his experience and talent, despite his series struggles. Nayar underlined the importance of batting Samson early rather than 5th or 6th. This strategy modification is because Samson has never played those parts in T20 games.