On the latest episode of The Scoop by Wisden, Indian journalist Nikhil Naz explained how Sanju Samson’s ouster from the T20I squad for Zimbabwe tour could hamper India's no-holds-barred approach to T20 batting.
Nikhil Naz: If Sanju is dropped after just three failures, what message does it send to other batters?
Samson was the Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup earlier this year. He was also Chennai Super Kings’ top run-getter at IPL 2026, and scored two hundreds in the season. But he recently lost his opening spot to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after returning scores of 5, 0 and 1 against Ireland and England.
Subsequently, Samson was not picked for the three-T20I series against Zimbabwe, scheduled for later this month, even as the rest of the first-choice batters were selected. Nikhil explained how such decisions could be detrimental to the team’s refined T20 batting approach of going hard from ball one.
“Abhishek told me that Suryakumar Yadav, in a private conversation, told him that even if you get 20 ducks in a row – remember he got about a few ducks in the T20 World Cup – I don't care,” the Indian journalist recalled. “You are the player I trust in, continue to play the way you do. Sanju said the exact same thing, that this was a private conversation he had with Suryakumar as well. So I think once you give that belief, that's when a batter is okay in playing high-risk cricket, because he knows he'll get the backing.
“But now if you're going to drop Sanju after three knocks where he doesn't get runs, what sort of a message goes out to everyone else? Then I'm more bothered about what average I get rather than what strike rate I'm batting at. And I think that then is detrimental to the brand of T20 cricket that the Indian team wants to play going forward.”
As per a Cricinfo report, Samson was rested for the Zimbabwe series, and not dropped, as he remains a part of India’s T20I squad for the Asian Games. But it is important to note that the opener doesn’t play any other format, and has featured in just three matches since CSK’s IPL campaign got over in May 2026, facing only 12 deliveries across those games.
“Now what happens is you've taken this young team to Zimbabwe right?” Nikhil wondered. “You're saying you're rotating and resting players. But Abhishek continues to play, Vaibhav continues to play, Ishan Kishan continues to play, they get runs.
“When you select the team for the next series, how is it that you bring a Sanju Samson back? That's not possible. The top three are performing. That's the spot that he's fighting for. How do you bring him back? And then I think slowly and gradually you move past him and and Sanju doesn't play any other format.
“You've got an Axar Patel who has been rested in Zimbabwe. You have got a Ravi Bishnoi rested in Zimbabwe. You've got a Washington Sundar rested in Zimbabwe. But they play other formats. So they'll get a chance in an ODI, they'll get a chance in a Test and if they get runs there, possibly they get back into the T20 team. Sanju plays no other format. So it is unlikely that he makes a return to the Indian team unless your top three don't score runs.”
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
