India vs New Zealand T20s: 'Sanju Samson one knock away from getting form back'

'Sanju is training well, he is hitting the ball very well.'

The struggling Sanju Samson received a big vote of confidence as bowling coach Morne Morkel said the India opener was just one knock away from rediscovering his form in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand.

Samson has so far made just 16 runs in three T20Is with a highest of 10 when other top-order batters like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav were punishing the New Zealand bowlers.

"Sanju is one knock away from getting that confidence, getting that form back. For us, building up to the World Cup it's important for the guys to find that peak performance at the right time. He is training well, he is hitting the ball very well," Morkel said on Tuesday, on eve of the fourth T20I in Visakhapatnam 

Despite it being an optional nets, Samson spent more than 30 minutes at nets facing various bowlers such as Axar Patel, Varun Chakravarthy, Abhishek and long-serving throwdown specialist Raghavendra.

Team management firmly backing Samson

After an initial few minutes of struggle, the familiar Samson surfaced with him sending the ball to the far corners of ACA-VDCA Stadium. 

The Kerala batter then proceeded to have a long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak on the sides of nets where Shreyas Iyer went about his task.

They were seen patiently explaining a few things to the beleaguered batter.  

Fittingly, Morkel was not overly worried about Samson's form and said team's victory mattered more than individual efforts. 

"So, I think it's just a matter of time for him to get his foot on the board. But the main focus is that the team is winning, and I think that's important. We're 3-0 up in this series at the moment, the boys are playing some very good cricket.

"We've got a couple of games now before the start of the World Cup, and I have no doubt that Sanju will find his form," added the South African.