India vs West Indies: Why Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad should have played 1st ODI

The Indian team management persisted with Suryakumar Yadav who had three ducks to his name in each of his last three ODIs before the start of the 3-match ODI series. Ishan Kishan was also included and was given an opportunity to open alongside Shubman Gill with Rohit Sharma batting as low as number 7.

At a time when the likes of Rohit and Virat Kohli demoted themselves at number seven and eight, respectively to give opportunity to others to bat, Samson and Gaikwad were overlooked despite them being a brighter prospect than Suryakumar Yadav in the ODI format.

Suryakumar walked in to bat at number three wearing the jersey of Samson but he failed to impress once again. 19 runs off 25 balls is all he could manage. The management gave the Mumbai batter a golden chance to seal his spot by sending him at three, a position he would never get to bat in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 or the World Cup 2023 (if he is selected).

Post the innings, the number one ranked T20I batter in the world is now averaging 23.79 after scoring just 453 runs from 24 matches. On the flip side, Samson averages 66 and has scored 36, 2*, 30*, 86*, 15 and 43* runs in his last six ODIs.

Ishan Kishan for long is being considered as a backup opener in the ODI squad. Considering that he opened the innings, it seems like it was almost pre-planned that Rohit would demote himself regardless of the match situation to create an opportunity for the southpaw to open.

Why Samson and Gaikwad should have played in the first ODI?

The top-order is not the concern for Team India as Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli are certain for the Asia Cup and the World Cup 2023. The Indian middle-order is in focus due to the injuries of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. While Pant is on the road for a long road to recovery, Rahul and Iyer are on the cusp of making a comeback as per reports.

However, their form after long injury layoffs is a matter of concern. These factors combined with Suryakumar Yadav’s ODI woes, had the stage set at least for Samson to feature in the eleven for the first Test. Experts including Wasim Jaffer also had predicted that Samson would get a go ahead of Kishan and Suryakumar.

However, history is repeating itself. Last year ahead of the T20 World Cup, the Kerala-batter was kept away from the shortest format of the game. Similarly, in an ODI World Cup year, the 28-year-old is finding it hard to break in the eleven of the 50-over setup.

With Asia Cup 2023 the next 50-over assignment for India, Samson in all sanity should have been allowed to play all the three matches against West Indies. The next two ODI matches on July 29 and August 1, will in all likelihood decide how far is Samson in India’s World Cup scheme of things.