India’s unassailable 3-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand certainly reflects that the team’s preparation for the T20 World Cup is on track.

The players have ticked most of the boxes, the team has done well in all departments of the game.

The only concern at present for India is the current form of opener and keeper-batter Sanju Samson. Only 16 runs from these three games. Samson’s dismissals narrate his sorry story in this series.

When Tilak Varma returns to the squad for the T20 World Cup beginning next week, Samson’s place in the XI will be quite doubtful, more so as Ishan Kishan — the other keeper-batter in the group — has dominated the rival bowling lately with his explosive strokeplay, vindicating the team’s faith in him.

Besides, with Shreyas Iyer having spent quite some time at nets on Tuesday in Visakhapatnam, it remains to be seen whether he’s preferred over Samson in Wednesday’s fourth T20I. Ishan will don the keeper’s gloves if Samson gets dropped from the XI. If the team management gives Samson another chance, the
Kerala cricketer has to find a way to navigate through troubled waters.

But what exactly has been ailing Samson even after his short training stint under Yuvraj Singh’s supervision at Sharjah earlier this month?

“There are quite a few technical glitches that he has,” Kerala head coach and former India limited-overs batsman Amay Khurasiya stated. “He goes too deep into the crease with a tight bottom hand. When the bottom hand is so tight, your shoulder — right shoulder in Samson’s case — tends to sag.

“As a result, you’re late in coming onto the front foot. It also leads to a gap between your bat and pad, and then when you try to drive on the off-side, your bat face opens and you have every possibility of being caught at the cover region,” Khurasiya, who played 12 ODIs alongside 119 first-class and 112 List A matches, explained.

“He isn’t too good at playing the hook either,” Khurasiya added.

“He either tends to play it in the fine-leg region, or it turns out to be a top edge. It (hook/pull) may still work if he’s dealing with a delivery in the 120kmph range... But if it’s 140 or more, he struggles.

“So, in the current situation, unless he solves his issues, it’s better for the team to slot him in the middle order,” Khurasiya said.

Even in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy this season, Samson’s Powerplay numbers were “poor”, the Kerala coach said. For an India player, a strike rate of 137.86 in a domestic T20 competition is simply not good enough.