Fans of Sanju Samson believed that the star cricketer would get a golden opportunity when he was included in India’s T20I and ODI squads for the New Zealand tour. Nonetheless, the wicketkeeper-hitter didn’t track down a spot in the playing XI in the T20I series. Samson’s fans expressed their displeasure on social media that he was not given a shot in the T20I series.

Now, India’s great spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has spoken about Samson’s lack of opportunities.

“For his (Sanju Samson) talent, if he doesn’t play, he will obviously get trended. I want Sanju Samson to get all the opportunities. In fact, I even said that I am looking forward to watching him play since he is in exceptional form at the moment and is playing superbly,”

Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

The veteran cricketer also talked about how Hardik Pandya, India’s captain for the T20I series against New Zealand, handled the subject of Samson’s selection nicely.

“He (Samson) is a very exciting player to watch but since we went with a different combination, as of now, we weren’t able to play him, said Hardik Pandya. In fact, the press asked him why he didn’t play Sanju Samson. Hardik Pandya replied in Thala Dhoni style. He said my room door will always be open, any player can come and have a conversation with me. It was very good to see him speak with such clarity l. In fact, I don’t know if he wanted to say that in Thala Dhoni style because we all know Hardik is super close to Thala Dhoni. And he had earlier said that he has learnt a lot from Thala Dhoni. He handled a tricky question that is always trending on social media very beautifully. So kudos to Hardik,”

Ashwin said.

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After the New Zealand tour, India play three ODIs and two Tests in Bangladesh.