Dubai [UAE], September 16 : Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson on Tuesday made his "perfect batter" choices, recalling traits of his current teammates and making an interesting choice for the "defence" attribute.
Samson was speaking in a video posted by the Sony Sports Network, the broadcasters for the ongoing Asia Cup.
Speaking in the video, he said, "I do not see anyone defending nowadays. No one is doing it. Everyone is standing and hitting sixes."
His pick for ideal amount of "swagger" as a batter was all-rounder Hardik Pandya, known for tonking huge sixes and some unorthodox shot-making which indeed oozes swagger and self-confidence. He also chose opener Abhishek Sharma as someone whose "bat swing" he would like to take, while he chose himself for his power-hitting abilities.
"Swagger has to be Hardik. I love how Abhishek is swinging it at the moment. Power hitting has to be me," said Samson.
Speaking on "elegance", he gave the title to vice-captain Shubman Gill. Further building his perfect batter, he chose T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav for his "range of shots".
"I think the way he plays 360-degrees, I think that will be good," he added.
On "defence" front, he said that he does not see anyone defending much, so he chose pacer Jasprit Bumrah for that attribute. Lastly, he chose the current head coach Gautam Gambhir for his "clutch performer" attribute, known for his match-winning knocks in finals of ICC T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
After years of inconsistency, Samson found a new lease of life as an opener last year in the Indian T20I set-up, having scored 487 runs in 17 matches and 16 innings at an average of 171.47, with three centuries and a fifty. During the series against Bangladesh and South Africa, he scored three of these tons within five innings.
While he showed some struggles against short ball in the England T20Is and could make just 51 runs in five innings, he displayed excellence in the Kerala Cricket League recently, with 368 runs in five matches at an average of 73.60, a strike rate of 186.80, with a century and three fifties. He fired a total 30 sixes within these five innings, ending as his team's fourth-highest run-getter as his team Kochi Blue Tigers won the title.
Samson has not batted so far in Asia Cup, slotted in middle-order, as India has opted for opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. Team India will play Oman on September 19. Having sealed their Super Four spot already with wins over UAE and Pakistan, it would be interesting if Samson would get some game time.