The wicketkeeper-batsman played an important role in the team’s T20 World Cup victory, hence the management has been criticized a lot for excluding Sanju Samson from the playing XI. Despite not playing every match during that campaign, he was named ‘Player of the Tournament’. Due to not being able to score runs in three consecutive matches, he was dropped from the playing XI of the second T20 match against England. Vaibhav Suryavanshi was given a chance to debut; However, there was no change in the results and Team India lost five consecutive matches. Captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir have also been criticized by critics. Meanwhile, a former Indian cricketer has also given an important statement.
Former cricketer Parthiv Patel believes that it is incomprehensible to exclude Sanju Samson from the playing XI on the basis of logic and performance; He described the decision to give a chance to Vaibhav Suryavanshi as an emotional decision. Vaibhav Suryavanshi made his debut on July 4, 2026 in the second T20I match against England. After scoring 14 runs in his first match, Vaibhav scored 13 runs in the second match and 15 runs in the third match. Talking about Sanju, he scored 5 runs in the first match against Ireland, could not even open the account in the second match and was out for 1 run in the first match against England. After this he was dropped from the team.
**Why Sanju Samson?**
Speaking on JioHotstar, Parthiv Patel said that in Sanju Samson’s 11-12 years of career, questions have been raised about his lack of consistent performance, due to which he has been dropped from the team several times, but this time the situation is different. He asked, “Why is Sanju Samson dropped every time? The reason given was not being able to score runs quickly, but you cannot judge a player on different parameters.”
Parthiv Patel believes that giving a chance to Vaibhav Suryavanshi could be the right decision from an emotional point of view, as he is a talented young face in the team. However, if the selection is based on performance and logic, then there does not seem to be any concrete reason to exclude Sanju Samson. Talking about the thinking of the fans, he said that when Shreyas Iyer was not selected for the T20 World Cup, the fans raised questions on his exclusion; Now that he is in the team, people are talking about Rajat Patidar. There is a thinking that the player who is left out of the team will perform better.