He produced three consecutive match-defining innings for India at the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and won player-of-the-tournament award. His next three outings in India colours though resulted in a combined six runs, including a duck. Logic would dictate that the player be persisted with, but in a polarising decision, the Indian team management dropped the opener from the playing XI to give a debut to a 15-year-old.
The dropped 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has now watched his team suffer three defeats in a row while warming the bench.
Such has been the story of Sanju Samson‘s international career, feels former India stumper Parthiv Patel, who questions why the opener ends up consistently finding himself in the firing line.
While Patel admits
that consistency has been an issue with Samson and a valid reason for dropping him in the past, him being left out on the bench midway through the ongoing England T20I series defies logic.
“Why is it always Sanju Samson who misses out? If you look at Sanju Samson’s career over the last 11-12 years, the one question that has always followed him is consistency,” Patel said on JioHotstar.
“Either the player who isn’t scoring quickly enough gets left out, or the one who has been inconsistent. You can’t make decisions based on both emotion and logic. So emotionally, yes, it was the right call to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a chance. But if you go purely by logic, then why has Sanju Samson been left out? So, I think this decision was taken emotionally,” he added.
Patel says that there’s a perception that the player who isn’t in the team is the better option, as he cited the example of Shreyas Iyer and Rajat Patidar.
“This is just how we are. Whenever someone isn’t in the team, we automatically feel they’re the one who would have done a better job. At the last T20 World Cup, Shreyas Iyer wasn’t there, and everyone kept asking, ‘Why isn’t Shreyas Iyer in the team?'” he said.
“Now that he’s back, people are saying Rajat Patidar should be in the side,” he added.
India have already lost the series to England after conceding a 0-3 lead with one match remaining. Patel has questioned their batting unit’s planning for the tour.
“The biggest change we made to our T20 cricket in 2022 was our intent. We weren’t playing with the same intent as the rest of the world. Skill has never been an issue with these players,” he said.
“Ishan Kishan plays the short ball very well. Whenever Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was bowled short in the IPL, he went after it, and Abhishek Sharma can play short balls as well. But the thing is, if the ball isn’t there to play the pull shot, then you simply can’t play it. You’re playing across the line, which is poor shot selection. Hence, it all comes down to lack of planning. England have been the better team, both in terms of planning and execution,” he added.
