Sanju Samson got his first opportunity at the World Cup on Thursday when India faced Namibia. The opener looked in scintillating form before flicking one straight to Louren Steenkamp at mid-wicket, who was a tad bit squarer. Since becoming the opener of the Indian side in the T20I format in July 2026, Samson has altered his technique slightly to access more parts of the ground and hit boundaries. However, although it worked well for him early on, his form dipped in the recent series, and former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar points out the same after his 22-run eight-ball innings. “Sanju Samson has a technical problem. He goes too deep in the crease and plays that flick shot. You can only hope he times it in the gap, or it goes for a six. He needs to make improvements, especially when he opens against the new ball,” Gavaskar said on Starsports. “Namibia were clever with their field placements. They set a field to get Samson out. But it was good that he hit some nice shots. That must have given him some confidence. If he plays the next match against Pakistan, he needs to spend more time at the crease,” he said. The out-of-form and low on confidence opener’s nervousness about his place in the side can be seen from his foot work. Before the bowler releases the ball, his right-foot takes a tiny back-step and the left too follows. The ploy that finishers fall back on to hoodwink and second guess the death-over bowlers are being used by him, the opener. And the results haven’t been great. In an attempt to get that extra microsecond to launch his big shots, or too afraid to go to the front foot, Sanju pre-meditates and takes a step back. Mind too muddled to take the right decision instinctively, he goes to the field with pre-conceived plans. This ploy might work against lesser bowlers and that also not for too long as it was seen against Namibia’s not-quite-world class bowling department
Why is Sanju Samson failing? Sunil Gavaskar decodes batters’ technique: ‘Goes too deep…’
