Former India captain and selector K Srikkanth believes Sanju Samson’s position in the T20I side is now untenable due to his poor returns and Ishan Kishan’s excellent form. Srikkanth said Kishan, with his knocks
of 76 (32) and 28 (13) in the last two T20Is against New Zealand, proved that he’s a ‘more devastating’ player than Samson, who wasn’t ‘sensible’ enough, managing just 16 runs in three matches.
“You can’t drop Ishan Kishan now, no chance,” Srikkanth said after India secured a 3-0 series scoreline with an eight-wicket win in Guwahati, where Samson recorded a golden duck. “Kishan is a more devastating player than Sanju Samson. I feel bad for Sanju. He seems desperate. He could have scored well in the last match and could’ve played well if he was a bit sensible. The problem with Samson is his consistency. He makes a hundred but doesn’t score much thereafter. His performance have been quite up and down in the last one and a half year. It has been a year and a half since his century against South Africa,” Srikkanth said.
Samson was India’s designated opener until last year’s Asia Cup. He was pushed down the middle-order to make way for Shubman Gill. Both Gill and Samson struggled in the new roles — the latter was dropped first, and the former snubbed in the last T20I series against South Africa.
As Samson was reinstated, Kishan was brought in as his backup following excellent returns in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. An injury to middle-order regular Tilak Varma allowed Kishan to slot in at number three.
Tilak was earlier expected to be back by the fourth T20I but reports suggest he might have to wait till the fifth game, and even then the team management might be open to avoid rushing him before the 2026 T20 World Cup. But whenever he returns, one of Samson or Kishan will have to be dropped and Srikkanth feels it would have to be the former.
“Samson has been unlucky sometimes but at the end of the day, you are facing competition. You can’t help it. Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma are a certainty. Obviously, Samson will miss out. Kishan is a keeper-batter too and he is in such dangerous form,” he added.
