'Seems like a lazy batsman to me': Salman Butt on Sanju Samson's performance
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Salman Butt said, "Sanju Samson seems like a lazy batsman to me."
Former Pakistani cricketer Salman Butt has criticised Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and called him "lazy". After India's tour of Sri Lanka, Samson has been facing flak for a below-average show in Colombo.
Samson was expected to contribute with the bat as India travelled with some lesser-experienced players, but he managed to score only 34 runs in three T20Is against Sri Lanka. He also made some fielding errors and his judgement of DRS was also criticised. After making his debut in 2014, Samson has only managed 117 runs in 10 T20Is he has played so far.
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In his YouTube channel, Butt said, "Sanju Samson seems like a lazy batsman to me. When you know you are not able to pick a bowler (Wanindu Hasaranga), you should keep your pad ahead of the bat and play him out. But still, he was trying to play the ball on the back foot, and that too across the line. So, what happened what that Samson completely missed the ball and was trapped in front."
He further added, "It looked like he had a very casual approach. When you know that there are only five batsmen in the team and you are one of them, and two have already got out, you should have been more careful. But I did not see that effort from Samson."
In a three-match T20I series, Sri Lanka hammered India by seven wickets in decider to clinch the series on Thursday (July 29). The batting order failed to perform as they managed to set a low target of 82 runs that Sri Lanka achieved with 33 balls to spare.
Coming from a series win in ODIs, India made a convincing start in the T20s as well by winning the first match. Sri Lanka on the other hand, bounced back to win the second match that was delayed by one day due after India's Krunal Pandya tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).
With a comfortable win in Colombo on July 29 (Thursday), Sri Lanka registered their first bilateral series win over India in 13 years across formats as in 2008, Sri Lanka had defeated India in a three-Test series 2-1 at home. The Lankans have won their first T20I series win since 2019.