The biggest topic of discussion in Indian cricket over the next few months would be the succession plan in T20Is. Several reports have claimed that captain Suryakumar Yadav is under pressure despite winning
the 2026 T20 World Cup, and several names have been doing the rounds for his replacement, including Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, and Axar Patel.
One more name was mentioned when these reports began to come up, which has since all but disappeared: Sanju Samson. The Kerala star’s stock shot up after he won the Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup, and he was considered a genuine candidate to replace Suryakumar, who lost form at the same time.
However, a Times of India report has now claimed that the decision makers are still not convinced about Samson’s consistency in the format.
“Axar Patel was the vice-captain for the World Cup, Ishan Kishan has age, form and leadership credentials; and then there is Sanju Samson’s name doing the rounds. Samson has recency bias on his side but his inconsistency has not pleased key stakeholders,” the report cited an unnamed well-placed source as saying.
‘Inconsistent’ is a tag that has been stuck on Samson ever since he made his debut for India as a teenager in 2015. At that time, he was among the most aggressive players in the country and didn’t get the backing that others with a more run-accumulating approach got.
He started to push his case again in his final years at Rajasthan Royals, scoring 484, 458, 362, and 561 runs through 2024, before an injury-ridden 2025.
With the Indian team, he was initially shunted to the middle-order to make room for Shubman Gill and dropped due to poor form. Gill was then snubbed before the T20 World Cup, and Samson still lost the battle to Ishan Kishan.
Samson got the chance to return in the middle of the campaign and made it count with three consecutive match-winning half-centuries in as many knockout matches. He followed it up with a good season for Chennai Super Kings, scoring 477 runs at an average of 43.36 and a strike-rate of 165.63.
