KL Rahul is injured, still Samson is not getting a chance, figures are stronger than Kohli and Iyer in the middle order

The second match of Group A of Asia Cup 2023 will be played between hosts Pakistan and India. The team's regular wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul will not play in this match. He has been ruled out of the first two matches of the Asia Cup 2023 due to injury. In such a situation, there were speculations that Sanju Samson might get a chance in the playing 11 in his place. Samson is not part of the 17-man squad but has been kept in reserve. But the BCCI has not yet taken any decision regarding this, in such a situation, Ishaan Kishan seems to be getting a chance as a backup wicket-keeper batsman.

Sanju Samson is not getting chances in the team despite performing brilliantly in ODIs for some time now. If we look at his middle-order figures, then his figures are better than any batsman in the Indian team. Sanju has played an inning at number four and scored 51 runs. Sanju has scored 104 runs at number five at an average of 52. Playing at number 6, Samson has scored 180 runs in four innings at an average of 90 and a strike rate of 117. Statistically, Sanju Samson is a better option than Ishaan Kishan in the middle order.

Apart from this, if Ishaan Kishan is selected for the team, then the batting order will have to be changed. Ishaan is not a middle-order batsman. In such a situation, tampering with the batting order before the World Cup can prove to be dangerous. On the other hand, if we look at his middle-order figures, then Kishan has no experience of batting at number five in ODIs. Kishan has batted at number four in 6 innings and scored just one half-century. Kishan averages 21 at this position while the strike rate is 67.

Since 2020, if we look at India's middle order, KL Rahul has scored the most runs while batting between numbers 4 and 7. On the other hand, if we talk about the average, the best average is of Sanju Samson. While looking at the worst performance, Suryakumar Yadav's name comes here too. Despite this, he has been given a chance over Samson.

Batting between numbers 4 and 7, KL Rahul has scored the most 924 runs at an average of 57.75. After him Shreyas Iyer 783 at 41.21, Hardik Pandya 709 at 39.38, Rishabh Pant 501 at 45.54, Suryakumar Yadav 458 at 22.9, Ravindra Jadeja 354 at 50.57 and Sanju Samson Has scored 335 runs at an average of 67.