"Best man for that job": Doeschate backs Samson to thrive in number five role

Dubai [UAE], September 23 (ANI): India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has endorsed Sanju Samson, an established and prolific opener, to recalibrate to the number five role. The Dutchman sees Samson as the “best man” to fill that position ahead of their Super Fours fixture against Bangladesh at the ongoing Asia Cup in Dubai on Wednesday.

After the return of Shubman Gill to the T20Is side as vice-captain, Samson had to pack his bags and relinquish his spot in the batting order. With captain Suryakumar Yadav at the number three spot and Tilak Verma holding the fourth position, the only place left for Samson was number five.

He came out to bat in the new role in the Super Fours fixture against arch-rival Pakistan, but Samson laboured to churn out runs and returned with a mediocre score of 13(17). Overall in six innings, the 30-year-old has mustered 75 runs at 18.75 while striking at 117.18, with 30 being his best score. Despite his underwhelming run, Doeschate feels Samson will find his mojo.

“Yeah, I think there are two outings now, two decent chances, and he’s still figuring out how to play that role. I think the wicket was a little bit tighter in the Pakistan game. But certainly with the way Shubman and Abhi are going at the top, and you’ve got your captain batting at three, and the way Tilak played, we’re really looking for a number five. So we believe Sanju is the best man for that job, and we’ve got no doubt that he’ll figure out how to play that role in the future,” Doeschate said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

Out of the four fixtures, India has stuck to the same XI for three occasions and made changes in the final group-stage against Oman. Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah made way for Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana after India qualified for the Super Fours stage. India confirming its spot in the final even after a win against Bangladesh is highly unlikely, and so is the return of wicketkeeper batter Jitesh Sharma and finisher Rinku Singh in the tournament.

“Obviously, we tried in Abu Dhabi to get some guys some time with the wickets. But we try to manage looking ahead and also managing important competitions like the Asian Cup. So it’s very difficult to think of someone like Jitesh or Rinku, they’re unlikely to get a game in that given situation we find ourselves in,” he said.

“The boys are doing excellent work with training, and you probably have to look at bilateral series more realistically as a chance to get guys in to show what they can do, and also to give guys a chance to show how flexible they are with their positions. But certainly now with the format of this competition, four games, two wins don’t even guarantee you going through. So it’s not like you can take your foot off the pedal at any time, and that’s been an unfortunate consequence of what we’re trying to achieve by trying guys in different positions,” he added.

India squad for Asia Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh. (ANI)

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