Sanju Samson burst on to the scene as one of the most talented batsmen in the Indian domestic circuit. He played some blinders for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after which the selectors took note of him. In July 2015, he got the privilege of wearing the national jersey in a T20I versus Zimbabwe in Harare. However, since then he has been out of contention.

Back in the 2019 edition of the IPL, he smashed his second T20 century for the Royals against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). The knock earned him a lot of praises from the cricketing fraternity. Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian cricketer, was impressed by that knock. The southpaw mentioned that Sanju Samson should be playing the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

MS Dhoni is at the fag end of his career and it’s a chance for Samson to deliver the goods and break into the Indian team. Recently, he played a couple of unofficial one-dayers versus South Africa A in Thiruvananthapuram. In his first game, he could only manage a single. But he came into his own in the fifth game of the series. Batting at number three, Samson scored 91 runs off 48 balls.

His innings was laced with six fours and seven sixes. The knock helped India ‘A’ put up a humongous 204 on the board and win the match by 36 runs. After his masterclass, Harbhajan Singh said that Samson could be an answer to India’s ever-lasting number four conundrum.

Aakash Chopra calls for fairness

In the meantime, Aakash Chopra, the cricketer turned commentator, put forth Samson’s numbers in List A cricket. He said that he likes Samson, but asked the selectors to look at the keeper’s List A average, which is currently at 27.92. Samson hasn’t gotten a century either in as many as 80 games.

He took to Twitter and wrote, “I like Sanju Samson. I really do. And perhaps, he should be kept in mind for white ball cricket going forward. But what explains his List-A average of 28 without a single century in 80 games? Can/should selectors overlook that? Would that be fair on others?.”

Here is Aakash Chopra’s tweet

I like Sanju Samson. I really do. And perhaps, he should be kept in mind for white ball cricket going forward. But what explains his List-A average of 28 without a single century in 80 games? Can/should selectors overlook that? Would that be fair on others?

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 7, 2019