India vs New Zealand: Sanju Samson’s technical flaws exposed? W.V. Raman has THIS piece of advice

Sanju Samson is back to doing what he does best—being inconsistent. Much to the frustration of his fans. Having made it to the T20 World Cup 2026 squad at the expense of ODI skipper Shubman Gill, he was expected to make the most of the ongoing five-match series against New Zealand.

Instead, he has returned scores of 10, 6 and 0 in the first three matches, all of which India won incidentally. In contrast, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who is seen as his competitor and who is also in the T20 World Cup squad, has scored 76 and a quickfire 28.

In 55 T20Is in 11 years, Samson has managed 1,048 runs at a strike-rate of 147 plus with three fifties and three hundreds—two of which came in South Africa in late 2024.

With Tilak Varma left out of the squad for the remaining two matches for him to regain full match fitness, Samson might get to play the full series. But, are there technical flaws in his batting that the bowlers have sorted out?

While his strike-rate against Australia is 131, it is 118 against England and 113 against New Zealand. England sorted him out last year in five consecutive games, bowling fast and short on to his body, forcing him to play a hurried pull-shot. This year, Matt Henry (twice) and Kyle Jamieson have bowled either straight lines or the leg-middle line, not allowing him to open his arms on the off-side.

PTI quoted former India opener W.V. Raman as saying that Samson “has a bit of problem both on technical and mindset front”.

“The bat-speed on his downswing is the same for bowlers with different speeds. It will fetch him success against bowlers in the 130 kmph mark. But anything above or less than 130 kmph mark with variations in pace either way, will create issue. The solution is to adjust his bat-speed on the downswing according to the pace of the ball. Once he does that, he should be alright," Raman said.

"On the mental front, he knows that there is a lot of competition for the wicketkeeper-batter's slot in white ball cricket. That's all probably putting pressure on him because he still has enough talent to work this out. He is capable player and can deliver for India."

Former India spin great Ravichandran Ashwin, too, pointed out recently how New Zealand attacked him with straighter lines while England bowled short and fast.

Rajasthan Royals High Performance Director Zubin Bharucha, who has closely worked with Samson at the franchise, however begged to differ on the technical aspect. "There is nothing technical at all. It's all in the mind for him. He oscillates from mercurial to average because of lack of clarity but it happens with everyone.

"Every player that's played the game goes through this, he is no exception - Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) just recently. It's just a matter of learning to manage it better," Bharucha told PTI.

So, what’s the solution according to Bharucha? "Hit a few more balls in that area during practice. Ideally, constantly get the throwdown expert to move from the off stump line to the leg stump line."