'I am disappointed with Sanju Samson'

Kapil Dev is usually very impressed with the current crop of Indian youngsters, but seemed unimpressed with Sanju Samson.

Kapil believes the wicket-keeper-batter's inconsistency is hurting him with respect to a place in the Indian team. Sanju, the cricket legend believes, is not short of talent but just needs to work on getting the big scores and not throwing away his starts.

Heading into the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, one area which promises to attract more attention than others in the Indian team is that of the wicket-keepers.

With as many as four wicket-keeper-batters in contention in Rishabh Pant, Samson, Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik, it will be interesting to see who and how many get the nod.

'If I have to pick a better wicket-keeper between the three (Karthik, Ishan, Samson), I would say they're almost at the same level,' says Kapil. 'I can't say there is much difference. But in terms of batting, each one is better than the other.'

'On a given day, all three can win the match for India on their own accord. If you speak of Wriddhiman (Saha), I would say he is a better 'keeper among the three, but the remaining are far superior batsmen,' Kapil said in a discussion on Uncut.

'I am disappointed with Sanju Samson. He is so talented. He does well in one or two matches and then he does not do anything,' Kapil said.

'If we talk about consistency currently, Dinesh Karthik is ahead of all. Ishan Kishan has, I think, come under pressure. Maybe it's the pressure of the high price that he garnered at the IPL auction. I have never got so much money so I will not be able to say.'

'I don't think Dinesh Karthik has surpassed Rishabh Pant in T20s. But this time he has done so well that he forced selectors to not ignore him. Pant is a youngster who has lot of cricket left, then there is Karthik who has loads of experience. The more said about Karthik, the less. He started before M S Dhoni and is still continuing.'

Samson has played 13 T20Is for India and scored 174 runs without a single half-century.