Former cricketer Kevin Pietersen has backed Sanju Samson despite his continuous failures during the match T20I series of England tour of India 2025.
He has been dismissed by Jofra Archer on three occasions and the deliveries have also been similar. With Samson trying to make room to play shots, Archer followed him resulting in his wicket-fall.
Ambati Rayudu and Sunil Gavaskar slammed him for failure to criticize the batter and backed him for the remaining matches.
Samson scored three off six balls as India lost their first wicket on the boar in 2.2 overs, chasing 172.
India eventually suffered a 26-run defeat as they failed to chase the target scoring only 145 runs for nine. Pietersen who has been instrumental for England’s win, hailed Samson as a mentally strong cricketer and backed him to perform well later in the series.
“I think mentally he’s sound. I really like Sanju Samson as a batter. I actually love him. I was pretty surprised that he hasn’t had more of a consistent role over the last few years.”
“Yes, he’s got a game here at the top of the order, but listen, these things happen. Things happen so quickly in the shortest form of the game,” said Pietersen.
“If he keeps doing it over the next six weeks or he does it over the next couple of months, then I’d probably have a look at it and start to question his technique. But I think that he’s a fabulous player.”
“I think he plays the short ball extremely well, and I just think he’s a rock solid player. So from that standpoint, there’s no way that I’m going to stand here and critique his play of the short ball,” Pietersen said.
Samson hasn’t had the best outing so far in the series, having scored only 34 runs from three matches at an average of 11.33 and a strike rate of 103.33.
“I just think that on occasions you get stuck and that’s life. You’ve got to take risks at the top of the order. Same as Abhishek Sharma, same as all these batters. They’re taking risks at the top of the order.”
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but more often than not, Samson comes up with the goods,” Pietersen added.
India will be looking to seal the series win when the face England in the fourth T20I on January 31 at MCA Stadium in Pune.
