Kumble backs Samson to deliver in South Africa

The uncapped trio of Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Ramandeep Singh should be awarded for their hard work in domestic cricket during India's tour of South Africa, believes former captain Anil Kumble.

A new-look India will take on South Africa in a five-match T20I series starting on Friday at Durban under the leadership duo of Suryakumar Yadav and coach VVS Laxman.

"I hope all these three get an opportunity to play for the Indian team because all of them have really done well at the domestic level," Kumble was quoted as saying by Jio Cinema.

Kumble lauded Dayal for staging a strong comeback after being hit for five consecutive sixes an IPL match during the 2023 edition.

"Yash Dayal, after those five sixes by Rinku Singh, has certainly come back strong. That shows a lot about his character — what he can bring to the table," he said.

"He's a fantastic left-arm seamer and moves the ball both ways. He's developed his game around bowling in the death overs as well; he did really well for RCB last season," Kumble added.

Kumble said it was surprising to see Vijaykumar not being retained by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and backed the Karnataka bowler to do well.

"Vyshak is really good. (Once) again, (he is) a domestic player who's done a lot of good work for Karnataka. Unfortunately, he didn't get enough opportunities for RCB, and I was a bit surprised that they didn't retain him," he said.

"I hope he gets an opportunity in South Africa. He has all the variations of bowling in the death overs," Kumble added.

Kumble said Ramandeep, if picked, should also be tried as a bowler.

"He has really come up with strides, especially after his move to KKR. Batting in that middle period where he's been that striker, who can really destroy even when he gets three or four balls," Kumble said.

"That has been the best part about Ramandeep. He's a gun fielder; we've seen that in that emerging championship (Emerging Teams Asia Cup). He bowls a bit too."

"I hope he gets to do the bowling part as well because people tend to ignore the all-rounders, especially with the impact player rule in the IPL," Kumble said.

The legendary spinner said Indian selectors will be expecting consistency from Sanju Samson after his maiden T20I century in the last series against Bangladesh.

"That hundred certainly would have given him a lot of confidence. We know the ability of Sanju Samson, he is a class act. The consistency is something that is a little missing, and that's something I'm sure the Indian selectors would be looking for," Kumble said.

"Keeping him at the top of the innings, either at Nos 1, 2 and 3 is where he can certainly add a lot of value to this team."

"He has that backfoot play, plenty of time against fast bowlers, and he can destroy the spinners too. It'll be good to see how he copes with those four games in South Africa in those conditions," Kumble said.