Rishabh Pant Or Sanju Samson? Who Will Make Indian Playing XI In T20 World Cup 2024

New Delhi: The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League had an unsaid battle between two captains — Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. While Pant was coming off a 14-month injury layoff, Samson had a breakout season with 500-plus runs – the most he had scored in a single IPL edition. With KL Rahul tipped to keep his place as the first-choice wicketkeeper in the squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, neither Samson nor Pant wasn’t even in contention.

To everyone’s surprise, the BCCI named both Pant and Samson in the 15-member Indian squad for the mega event in the USA and West Indies. As the current scenario is, the Indian team management will surely be in dilemma as to whom to pick in the playing XI.

Rishant Pant’s Resurgence

Nobody though Pant would make such a return after suffering a near-fatal car accident on the night of December 30, 2022. The southpaw declared fit a fortnight before IPL 2024. Leading Delhi Capitals, Pant started slowly before getting into groove as the tournament gradually progressed. Pant amassed 446 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 154.44, with the best of 88 not out against Gujarat Titans.

Twist For Sanju Samson

The issue with Samson has always been his consistency with the bat but in this season the Rajasthan Royals skipper turned things around. The right-hander took the scoring responsibility for his side at a time when their openers failed. Samson was in phenomenal form scoring 531 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 153.47. He finished fifth in the Orange Cap rankings.

Who’s Ahead?

Samson could be ahead of Pant as the former’s ability to hit the spinners clearly gives him the edge. Pant’s struggles against the slower bowlers in IPL 2024 was clearly evident as his strike rate dropped to 119.53. The Delhi Capitals skipper was also dismissed by leg-spinners five times in IPL 2024. On the other hand, Samson had a strike rate of 145.79.

With the top four packed, whoever among gets picked up, will have to play in the middle-order. While Samson batted at No.3 for Rajasthan Royals, Pant’s runs came at No.5 for Delhi Capitals. To add more to that, Pant claimed his stake with a 32-ball fifty against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up tie on Saturday. Samson was dismissed for just one run out of six balls, thus failing to have an impact.