Sanju Samson has been named as a replacement for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in the West Indies T20Is series starting from 6th December 2019. Samson was included in the 15 for Bangladesh series but did not get a chance to prove his mettle.
The left-handed Shikhar Dhawan was injured during the Syed Mushtaq Ali game against Maharashtra during last week game. With Dhawan ruled out the West Indies series, KL Rahul is likely to open the innings with Rohit Sharma. Rahul has been in sensational form during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Super League stage for Karnataka with 225 runs from 6 matches at strike rate of 145.16 with highest score of 84 from 48 balls against Punjab that took place on 26th November.
Sanju Samson has taken part 4 out of the 6 games for Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with one half-century. Before this, Samson posted the highest induvial score of 212* in Vijay Hazare Trophy history.
Samson played just one T20I match against Zimbabwe in 2015. The explosive right-handed batsman from Kerala proved his worth with a brilliant century for Rajasthan Royals against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2019 edition of IPL. He made 102* which helped RR post a massive total of 198 but SRH chased down the target thanks to Warner and Bairstow.
Shikhar Dhawan has been in patchy form of late. With Sanju Samson coming in the team, there will be pressure for Rishabh Pant to perform. Pant has criticized for his form in international cricket. Samson would be looking to showcase his talent to the world if given a chance in playing XI.
The first T20I would take on 6th December at Hyderabad, which would be followed by 2nd T20I at Thirvanthupram on 8th and the final T20I match to be played at 11th at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
