Gwalior: Ahead of the first T20I of the three-match series against Bangladesh, India skipper Suryakumar Yadav has declared the opening pair for the first fixture. He has revealed that the batting duo of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson will open the innings for Men in Blue.
Samson will have a chance to redeem himself as he has been in and out of the team constantly. Since his debut in Zimbabwe nine years ago, the wicketkeeper-batter has been striving hard to get a permanent place in the playing XI. Suaryakumar Yadav announced ahead of the fixture that they will open the innings.
"Sanju Samson will play and open the batting in this series going forward with Abhishek Sharma," said India's T20I captain, Suryakumar, on the eve of the series opener in Gwalior.
Samson has played 30 T20Is so far and has opened the innings on five occasions. In the Indian Premier League (IPL), he bats one down for the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Abhishek has played five T20Is scoring 124 runs with an average of 31 with a strike rate of 174.64.
Reflecting on the nature of the surface for the first T20I, Suryakumar said that it will provide a good contest for the spectators.
"In the two or three days that we practised here, we didn't feel that the pitch was slow. It appears to be a good T20 wicket. So, expecting a competitive game," he remarked.
"We have got to know about the conditions here during the practice sessions. So, we now have an idea of how the pitch might behave. We have been talking to the ground staff about the wind factor or the dew factor. We would like to stick to our plans. IF everyone performs there role, then achieving the desired results should not be a problem for us."
