Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar praises Sanzhou Samson Ahead of the upcoming 2025 Champions Trophy.

Manjrekar had earlier backed Sanju Samson over Pant as Indian Cricket’s second-choice wicketkeeper in 2025. Pant has performed well in Indian Test cricket so far and won a lot of matches for the team. However, his record in ODIs and T20Is is not too impressive. However, he has huge potential to turn things around in any format of the game.

Samson, on the other hand, has a good ODI record in the limited 50-over international matches he has played so far. He has been in fine form in India’s T20Is of late and has shown how devastating he can be once he gets on the field.

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Sanjay Manjrekar praises Sanju Samson

When asked about Sanju Samson’s recent success in T20I cricket, Sanjay Manjekar claimed that Samson looked more confident and paid more for his wickets.

“Confidence, a bit of maturity, he takes his wickets more seriously. He plays long innings, not just one innings, but over and over again. Some people mature a little late and that was the case with Sanju Samson, “Manjrekar said on the “Star Sports” program.

Manjrekar further stated that Samson is now looking to bat long and it is working well for him. According to him, his earlier batting was also good but lacked consistency.

“I am a big fan of his now. Earlier, he seemed to be batting well but the runs were there. Now the batting is strong no matter what, even the runs are there,” the former India batsman commented.

It’s great to see the success he is having so far – Sanjay Bangar on Sanju Samson

Meanwhile, former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar Sanju Samson was also impressed and he praised the Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman’s six-wicket haul. banga thinks Gautam GambhirThe leading team management gave Sanju Samson a longer rope, which worked in his favour.

“It’s great to see the success he’s having so far. He’s been there a long time. It’s just he’s getting the right opportunities and there’s a lot of them because every batsman, if he hits three or four in a row game, it frees him up a bit,” he said.

“Batting order, he doesn’t really have to worry about the situation. The pitch has expanded and he is a six-wicket batsman. He can hit six easily. After Yuvraj Singh, if there is a batsman who can do that One point that remains consistent with such ease, that has to be Sanju Samson, so just to see him give it his all is a joy to watch,” Bangal said.

Samson’s impressive record in the white-ball format provides a strong backing for India to win the Champions Trophy. However, he has not played an ODI since December 2023, which may work against him.

KL Rahul has performed well in the ODI midfield and is likely to make the team. Rahul has scored 2851 runs in 77 ODIs at an average of 49.15 and a strike rate of 87.56, making it difficult for him not to be considered again.

Ritha Pant Not having impressive ODI numbers works against him. However, the selectors have shown confidence in the southpaw’s devastating abilities regardless of the format of the game.

Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant statistics in ODIs

Sanju Samson has an impressive ODI record, scoring 510 runs in 16 games at an average of 56.66 and a strike rate of 99.60. The 30-year-old right-hander has reached 100,350 runs in his ODI career so far.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant has played 43 ODIs so far and scored 2948 runs at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 106.21 with 105 runs. He played in India’s last ODI against Sri Lanka in August 2024.