More than two months since the Sanju Samson vs Vaibhav Sooryavanshi contest began for a spot as the opening partner of Abhishek Sharma in India’s T20I team, the senior opener has finally spoken his mind on this topic.
While many have felt that the 15-year-old should be made the first-choice opener, Samson showed it on Tuesday evening in Delhi that he is one of the best in the world in his role in the shortest format, rekindling memories of his epic hat-trick of half-centuries in the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
Despite being the Player of the Tournament award winner in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, Samson had come under fire recently for his underperformance on the UK trip and in the first T20I against Afghanistan.
Samson was dropped midway on the UK tour as Sooryavanshi received his T20I debut cap. The left-hander who had had a record-breaking IPL season then went to Zimbabwe and bagged the Man of the Series award.
It felt, in some sense, that Samson’s place in the side was on the line in the IND vs AFG 2nd T20I. But the 31-year-old delivered a match-winning show, which seemed to be a more important knock individually for Samson than for the team, blasting 57 runs off 22 balls with the help of 7 fours and 4 sixes in a chase of 160.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi had to come in the Indian team sooner than later: Sanju Samson
In the post-match press conference, Samson fronted up to the reporters and media, where he was queried over what has gone on behind the scenes with him, as his place in the side has come up with competition from Sooryavanshi.
Samson said, “You see, a 15-year-old boy has scored 700-800 runs [in IPL]. My Man of the Tournament award [at the 2026 World Cup] was before that. After that, he’s performed so well. He had to come in [the Indian team] sooner than later. I didn’t perform in 2-3 games, and he was in-form and we wanted to win games in that [England] series.”
“It is very understandable from a leadership [perspective]. I have been in this situation, and I have taken tough calls as a captain for my IPL franchise.”
Samson praised the team management, which is led by head coach Gautam Gambhir, for giving proper communication with him in England in July, where he was dropped.
“There was a lot of communication in the middle of the England series. He spoke to me a lot before this series as well… It’s very easy to take very popular decisions.
“But, as a leadership group, we have been taking some really toughcalls,s keeping the team at the front. That’s where we have to give the credit to the leadership group of our team,” the right-hander added.
When is the India vs Afghanistan 3rd T20I?
The IND vs AFG 3rd T20I will be played on Thursday, September 17, in Delhi.
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