New Zealand vs India 2022

‘He has got lot on his plate’ – Former Indian Player defends VVS Laxman for dropping Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson has been around the Indian team setup for a while now but hasn’t received many chances to showcase his skills. Stand-in head coach VVS Laxman, who was brought in to replace Rahul Dravid only for the current New Zealand tour, has been heavily criticised by fans for the lack of opportunities given to Samson in the two limited-overs series.

Samson was not selected for the T20I series for “strategic reasons,” according to captain Hardik Pandya. He was given a chance in the first ODI of the series on Friday in Auckland, where he scored 36 and shared a 96-run stand with Shreyas Iyer. Samson was, however, dropped from the playing XI for the second ODI due to India’s desire for balance in the squad.

Amidst the ongoing criticism, former India cricketer Murali Kartik has come to Laxman’s defence. Speaking to Prime Video on Sunday during the 2nd ODI in Hamilton, Kartik admitted that dropping Samson was difficult, but explained why he did so while defending Laxman.

“You want bowling options, unfortunately for India, the top 6 that we have here, the top 6 none of them bowl. And I said this before as well, it’s tough on Sanju Samson. We all keep talking about how good he is,” Karthik said.

“He comes and gets a lovely score. He bats really well in the series against South Africa. Yes, the feeling is to keep him going and then that’s right. But now he misses out in spite of scoring runs in the previous game and you get Deepak Hooda to bowl, which is fine.

“But as Ashish said, if you are picking him as a batter from the get-go and then getting him to bowl, that’s a different thing. But for him to come now and then the others to miss out.. look Shardul Thakur has been among the wickets. It’s a tough ask. I know VVS Laxman has got a lot on his plate, he is a fair man.

“With the squad of 14, this is what they have tried to do, given what happened in the previous game,” he added.