“His numbers against him are not very strong” - Former all-rounder reveals Sanju Samson’s major challenge vs NZ

Former Indian all-rounder and commentator Irfan Pathan has stated that the Indian opening batter Sanju Samson would be challenged by the New Zealand pacer Matt Henry in the grand finale.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Pathan reckoned that it would be an exciting contest between Samson and Henry, who dismissed the Indian batter twice in the recently concluded five-match T20I series. 

“Sanju has been dismissed by him twice, and his numbers against Henry are not very strong. From that perspective, this will be a very exciting contest. But my main focus will be on New Zealand’s field placements. It will be interesting to see what kind of field they set when Sanju Samson is batting,” Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube channel.

“Now the challenge here is that Sanju’s bat face stays slightly closed. Matt Henry might use the outswinger a lot. He bowls with a scrambled seam and brings the ball back in, and that could trouble Sanju, considering his technique. Because his bat tends to remain slightly closed,” he added.

“The good thing is that even though his bat stays closed, when the bat meets the ball the bat face becomes straight at the moment of contact. But sometimes when you become very confident, you start applying too much force from the bottom hand. That should not happen with Sanju. That is something I will be watching closely,” he concluded.

For the unversed, India managed to win all the games in the campaign except for the South Africa Super8 clash. Later, they bagged wins in the must-win encounters against Zimbabwe and the West Indies, and then defeated England in a high-scoring thriller in the semi-final.

Meanwhile, New Zealand advanced to the semi-final despite losing to South Africa in the first round and to England in the Super8 clash. They defeated the unbeaten South Africa in the semi-final to make it to the grand finale.

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