Despite losing several key players, the depleted Indian squad led by Shikhar Dhawan fought hard but couldn’t get the better of Sri Lanka, who kept themselves alive in the series with a close four-wicket win in the second T20I.

Though India lost the match, the players, especially the Indian bowlers, won many hearts because of the way they fought and made Sri Lankan batters toil hard for each and every run. 

That said, not every player had a great day in the office and Sanju Samson was among them.

© Twitter

Being a wicketkeeper-batsman, Samson was expected to deliver with the bat as well as make useful contributions behind the stumps but he had a day to forget. He not only failed with the bat but also made terrible fielding mistakes, which included a misfield in the final over and a poor judgement regarding DRS.

The Rajasthan Royals skipper has a lot of promise but he has never been able to cash on to whatever opportunities he has got with the Indian team and this trend continued on Thursday as well.

© BCCI

Coming into bat at two down, the Kerala batsman struggled against Sri Lanka’s quality spin-bowling and was cleaned up by Akila Dananjaya. He could only score seven runs off 13 balls that he faced and his strike rate was the worst among all Indian batters who came out to bat.

After disappointing with the bat, Samson had the chance to make amends in the field but he perhaps couldn’t recover from his dismal batting performance and it affected his wicket-keeping.

© Twitter IPL

In the eighth over of the innings, chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav deceived the Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanka and wrapped him on his pads and was pretty confident that it was out but the umpire didn’t raise his finger.

Kuldeep wanted Dhawan to go for the review but Samson wasn’t as confident and in the end, they decided not to send it upstairs, denying India a clear wicket-taking opportunity. Thankfully for India, Shanaka couldn’t make most of the chance and departed cheaply that too to Kuldeep.

© Instagarm Sanju Samson

Samson’s misery didn’t end there as he conceded a cheap bye, gifting Sri Lanka an easy single in the final over of the innings which left young fast bowler Chetan Sakariya and billions of Indian fans frustrated. Sri Lanka got over the finish line with two balls to spare and unhappy fans took to social media to blame Samson for India’s loss.

Replacing a legend like MS Dhoni, who has set the bar so high, is not an uphill task for any wicket-keeper but Samson has clearly not helped his cause, with youngsters like Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan leading the pack.

This is the last series for Sanju Samson... he is good for Ipl only along with prithvi shaw as well..#SLvIND

— shankar vishwakarma (@ShankarFlying56) July 28, 2021

India had Dhoni then, now we have Sanju Samson

— Sudharshan R (@rsudharshan95) July 28, 2021

Match ka mujrim Sanju Samson
With bat - 7(13)
With gloves - drs howler, missed catch, gave byes #SLvsIND

— Honey bee (@BeeBaby_07) July 28, 2021

#SLvIND

Sanju Samson in Sanju Samson in
IPL: international
cricket: pic.twitter.com/SEjCCyV0zT

— Hemant Kumar (@SportsCuppa) July 28, 2021

You say inconsistent I hear Sanju Samson

— Anrich Nortje (@cricshub41) July 28, 2021

man, looks like even calling Sanju Samson unlucky would be an understatement. this is honestly terrible for him

— kavya (@kavyacj) July 28, 2021

Sanju Samson doesn't belong to international arena now he gotta improve like hell he throws his wicket like anything feels like now ishan kishan is ahead of him#IndvsSL

— shubham dubey (@shubham7043) July 28, 2021

samson jaise ipl ke liye hee bane hain.. international inke bass ki nahi.

— 𝒄𝑹 :): (@WoundedTiger_) July 28, 2021

Sanju Samson got out in a way only Sanju Samson would! #INDvSL

— Kevin Talati (@talatikevin82) July 28, 2021

Surely Sanju Samson is no way ready for international cricket. Not reliable with bat...fumbles in crunch situation with gloves and poor with DRS assistance as well ... #SLvIND

— shah_jinesh86 (@ShahJiny) July 28, 2021

Samson’s contribution in this tour so far has been dropped catches , byes , failure to take DRS at right time and some unimpressive batting performances. #INDvSL

— Ashu (@ashu048) July 28, 2021

Who says Sanju Samson is inconsistent? He is the most consistent in throwing away all the opportunities given to him in international circuit.

Guy can't bat according to situation, can't keep, can't give good DRS suggestions. In a nutshell he is just Umar Akmal with a fan base.

— Ayaan (@AyanMusk) July 28, 2021

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