Whenever Sanju Samson walks into the field for Team India, fans have a lot of expectations of him. He played two back-to-back matches for India in the first two matches of the ongoing 5-match T20I series against New Zealand. In both of the matches, Sanju Samson failed to deliver.
In Nagpur, during the India vs New Zealand 1st T20I match, the batter scored only 10, followed by a 6 in Raipur for the India vs New Zealand 2nd T20I match.
Sanju Samson may have to adjust his bat speed
The off-form of the keeper-batter, for obvious reasons, attracted some amount of scrutiny from the cricket experts. After the Raipur match, former India Women’s head coach WV Raman explained why the batter was unable to protect his wicket.
According to him, because of speed management issues, the batter might have faced difficulties against the bowlers. On both of the occasions, Sanju Samson was struggling against the new ball and eventually ended up losing his wicket. According to the veteran coach, the top-order batter, now playing as an opener, needs to bat according to the pace of the game.
WV Raman gives Samson advice to improve his batting
Maybe Sanju was in a bit of a hurry on both of the occasions, which caused him the dismissals. Raman put a focus on the speed of his bat.
“Samson will be inconsistent as long as he doesn’t adjust the speed of his bat on the downswing in relation to the pace of the ball. In simple terms, one can’t drive a car at the same speed all the time, everywhere,” Raman stated. In the modern era of cricket, batters often are in a hurry to score runs at a fast pace.
#Samson will be inconsistent as long as he doesn’t adjust the speed of his bat on the downswing in relation to the pace of the ball. In simple terms one can’t drive a car at the same speed all the time, everywhere. #IndvNz #CricketTwitter
— WV Raman (@wvraman) January 23, 2026
Sometimes, the aggressive batting style looks elusive, but sometimes, it can cause early damage, as happened in the case of Sanju Samson. He tried to put some extra runs on the board with a speedy bat, but the opposition bowlers might have read his move early and then delivered according to that.
In those two matches, two pacers helped New Zealand to get rid of the batter. Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson were the bowlers who claimed the wickets of Sanju Samson in two matches, respectively.
Footwork may also have to improve
After the social media post of WV Raman, a cricket fan put a focus on Samson’s footwork. According to the cricket fan, Samson might be using his back foot too much, which did not allow him to move swiftly against the bowlers.
“Sir, one more thing I noticed is the weight is predominantly on the back foot, and he is late on the ball, unable to time the ball, adding to the above fact on the downswing. I would love to hear from you,” the cricket fan commented on Raman’s post. In response, the coach said that the point is valid enough for discussion. “Good observation… I get what you mean…”, Raman commented back.
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