Dhawan In The Open: Sanju Still Has To Wait, Why Not Support Ball When He’s Doing Poorly?: India had lost the ODI series during India’s tour of New Zealand. The third match of the series was also rained out and the Kiwis won 1-0.
India tried Rishabh Pant in the role of wicket-keeper batsman throughout the series. All this time the Pant vs Sanju debate was raging outside.
Former Indian chief selector Chris Srikkanth and many superstars like former players Ashish Nehra, Murali Karthik, and many others advocated for Sanju, while the board and selectors sided with Pant.
Pant failed in all but one of India’s tours of New Zealand and proved once again that he is not suited to the limited over format.
Sanju got a chance in only one match of the series. Sanju made good use of the opportunity and had a great partnership with Shreyas Iyer.
Even after putting out a good performance, the team benched Sanju and gave another chance to the flopped ball.
Indian captain Shikhar Dhawan has clarified his response on this issue.
“To know who a match winner is, you have to look at a larger canvas and understand that picture. You have to do the analysis. Your decision should be based on that.
Sanju definitely gave a great performance. Sanju is playing well at every opportunity he gets.
But you may have to wait for opportunities. Because he (Rishabh Pant) had performed well. We know what his skills are as a match-winner. That’s why we need to support him when he performs poorly,’ said Dhawan.
In the India-New Zealand series that ended the other day, India had to admit defeat after losing the series to the Kiwis. India lost to the Kiwis when the last match of the series was washed out by rain.
After losing the toss and batting, India was bowled out for three wickets in 47.3 overs. Washington Sundar was India’s top scorer with 51 runs from 64 matches. Shreyas Iyer who scored 49 runs was another strong player for the Indian innings.
Batting in reply, New Zealand was at 104 for one in 18 overs when the rain came and the game had to be abandoned.
With this, New Zealand won the three-match series 1-0. New Zealand won the series after two matches the series were washed out by rain.
