Three failures, one disagreement? How Sanju Samson lost his India T20 spot for the Zimbabwe series

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Unbelievable. Scoring heavily in three knockout matches during India’s triumphant T20 World Cup campaign seemingly counted for little. Three low scores after that, coupled with what sources described as a disagreement with India head coach Gautam Gambhir over getting dropped in the second T20 game against England in Manchchester, appear to have cost Sanju Samson his place in India’s T20 squad for the Zimbabwean series.

Sources told CricBlogger that the Indian team management has identified Ishan Kishan as its first-choice wicketkeeper-batter going forward. There is also a strong desire to test youngsters such as Prabhsimran Singh against a relatively weaker opposition like Zimbabwe, a move that further reduced Sanju’s chances of making the squad.

Is the team management.looking at Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma as its preferred opening combination in T20Is, while keeping an opening slot available for Shubman Gill should he return to the shortest format in the future?

“No one can deny that Sanju has been dropped. It appears his argument with Gambhir did not go down well with the team management. Sanju was clearly unhappy after being left out against England the other day,” a source indicated.

However, the BCCI sources denied that Sanju wss dropped for the Zimbabwean series. Yet, he isn’t unfit. “You can’t say that he is dropped from the team because the selectors wanted to see a fee youngsters,” a board official who didn’t wish to be named said.

Whatever the reason, dropping a senior player like Sanju Samson sends the wrong message to the dressing room. Just a few months ago, Gambhir was backing Sanju as a potential T20 captain. Today, he finds himself out of the squad altogether.

At least Suryakumar Yadav was given the opportunity to captain the side and work under Gambhir before eventually being left out despite leading India to the T20 World Cup title. The contrasting treatment of senior players is bound to raise questions about the consistency of the team management’s decision-making.