Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has opined that Sanju Samson is doing enough at the moment to keep Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on the bench. Samson was dismissed after scoring only three runs off six balls in the third game against the West Indies at the Holkar Stadium, Indore on Sunday.
However, the Indian opener scored a fine knock of 82 runs off just 41 balls in the second game of the series at Ranchi. Samson had failed to deliver the goods in the Asian Games as he managed only nine runs in two matches but scored two fifties against Afghanistan in the three-match T20I series.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “I just feel Sanju is doing enough at the moment to keep Vaibhav out of the team. Unfortunately, Vaibhav should be given an opportunity. But what can we do? Such things happen in life. This battle between the two is going on because the Indian team management and everyone know that Abhishek Sharma cannot be touched. Abhishek Sharma is an exceptional player. If his bat gets going, he always wins matches for India.”
On the other hand, the former CSK spinner praised Abhishek Sharma for playing a crucial knock of 69 runs off 30 balls in the third game.
He said, “He is a fabulous player. He will keep learning little by little. And what I am seeing as a big positive is that he has been scoring runs on difficult wickets over the last two or three months. This tells me that his graph is moving upwards. He is not stagnating, nor is he going down. So, Abhishek Sharma is a fabulous player, and I have a lot of time for him. I always enjoy watching him play because of his style, grace, and timing. He makes it look so easy.
Ashwin highlighted that Abhishek batted well in Japan in the Asian Games despite difficult playing conditions.
He concluded, “Abhishek Sharma has shown me a lot of things over the last two months that demonstrate his adaptability. Even in Japan, the wicket was not that easy, but he batted really well. The same was true here in Indore. The wicket was not particularly easy, but he batted well.”
The fourth T20I between India and the West Indies will be played at Hyderabad on Wednesday.
