T20I series: Count on Sanju-Abhishek for an Eden encore in Chennai

The next T20 World Cup in the Indian subcontinent may be more than a year away, but if the selectors want to start working on the blueprint, they can pencil down an opening combination for now. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, who made short work of a modest England target in the first T20I of the series in Kolkata on Wednesday, have shown the spark to be the chosen pair.

Come the second T20I in Chennai on Saturday, and Jofra Archer & Co. will be wracking their brains on how to put the brakes on this free-scoring, right-left combination during the powerplay. The twin T20 retirement of 'Big Two' Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who opened during their successful World T20 campaign in June 2024, meant India needed an explosive pair at the top if it wanted to keep its success rate going in this format.

For Samson, been there and done that at 30, his patience seems to have finally paid off as Indian cricket hits transition mode. After hammering his maiden T20I century against Bangladesh at home last year, the Malayali was in sublime touch in South Africa, becoming the first Indian batter to hit two centuries in a single T20I series.

While Samson’s quality as a batter was never in doubt, it’s his inconsistency and impetuosity in shot selection that has often resulted in selectors losing faith. However, the long-serving Rajasthan Royals captain cut loose on the South African pitches, where the ball was coming on to to the bat, hammering the Proteas to score 107 off 50 balls (seven boundaries, 10 sixes) in Durban, following it up with an unbeaten 109 off 56 balls (six boundaries, nine sixes) in the very next game at Johannesburg.

The biggest plus about Samson is that on his day, it becomes a humongous task to contain him, as England’s Gus Atkinson must have realised the hard way at the Eden Gardens. He was left clueless after Samson plundered him for 22 runs in over, a flat six over cover being the pick of the shots. England managed to see Samson’s back in the fifth over but then, Abhishek took over in an awe-inspiring exhibition of six-hitting as India made the chase look like a walk in the park.

How does one quantify the role of six-hitting in Abhishek’s batting? A breakdown of the Punjab allrounder’s innings of 79 off 34 balls at Eden will make unpleasant reading for England's bowlers, because as many as 48 of his runs came via sixes. The youngster has amassed 335 runs in his short T20I career so far, of which 270 have come off 54 boundary hits with 27 of them being sixes.

Interestingly, the signs of Abhishek Sharma 2.0 was gradually emerging in IPL 2024 itself. After Sunrisers Hyderabad had kept faith in him in the earlier cycle without much return, Abhishek finally started revelling in the opener’s role and the results were there for all to see: he hit more sixes (42) than fours (36) on the way to aggregating 484 runs at a strike rate of 204.22 last season.

“I believe I’m very lucky in this,” Abhishek said after the Eden game. “I was working with Yuvi paaji (Yuvraj Singh) at first. Going forward, I had Brian Lara, who really helped me at SRH. Daniel Vettori was pretty simple, he just wanted everyone to express themselves and I think that gave me the freedom to play my shots. With Yuvraj Singh a longtime mentor, Brian Lara and even Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) right now, they just want me to showcase my talent the way I play and to back myself.”

Bowling simulation at the India nets also helped. “I try and want to face the kind of bowlers I will potentially face in a match. Special mention to Kotzy sir (Sitanshu Kotak) and Abhishek Nayar bhai. Both helped me in the nets to get me similar bowlers. Shot selection is very simple for me. I watch the ball and react,” Abhishek said.

The underlying philosophy of the new T20I pair is that of a risk-and-reward relationship and they have got the buy-in from the team management for this. The question is: can they repeat it at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium?

Catch the match

India vs England, 25 January, Saturday

T20I in Chennai

Match starts at 7.00 pm IST