S. Badrinath, a former Indian cricketer, has shared his thoughts on Kerala’s Sanju Samson being benched to include Shubman Gill in India’s T20I XI since the Punjab batter returned to the format. He questioned the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management about preferring Gill over Samson as an opener.
Badrinath's words came shortly after Gill was dismissed for 0 on the first ball in the second T20I of the ongoing five-match series against South Africa in New Chandigarh Stadium on Thursday.
It was Gill's third single-digit score in his past six T20Is. Earlier, Gill had scored four runs in the series opener in Cuttack.
Questions have been raised regarding India's decision to continue with Gill as an opener despite his poor performances. Gill was also appointed vice-captain of the T20I team upon his comeback to the squad after a year away.
India broke the well-oiled opening duo of Samson and Abhishek Sharma to make room for Gill at the top. Samson was initially forced to bat out of place in the middle order before being dropped from the XI, as Jitesh Sharma was preferred for the middle-order role.
“Sanju Samson has scored three hundreds. We are talking about T20 cricket, and he has three hundreds. What more do you want as a player? It is a little painful to see a player who has performed so well warming the bench.
He is the vice-captain of the team. I think only a player who is a certainty in the XI can be captain or vice-captain. He has been made vice-captain with these numbers. I can understand if there are no backups, but India has no dearth of talent in T20s,” Badrinath said on Star Sports Tamil.
Kris Srikkanth, former India captain and ex-chairman of selectors, underlined the statistical discrepancy between the two batters and accused team management of being puzzled over selection.
“His (Samson’s) strike rate is 183—that’s on another level. What are they even saying in press conferences? Each one is saying different things. They say it’s a battle between Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma. There is no clarity in what they are saying. They say Gill is a good player, and they are giving him opportunities,” Srikkanth said.
Srikkanth also stated that the promotion of middle-order batter Axar Patel to the no. 3 in the second T20I was meaningless. Axar struggled to achieve momentum in his knock and scored 21 runs in 21 balls before his dismissal.
“See, they themselves are confused. They don’t know why Axar Patel came in at No. 3. We are talking about the Indian team. Where is the fairness? Even when you give him chances, you are shuffling him around,” he said.
Coming to Sanju Samson, the keeper-batter has been benched despite scoring 417 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of 182 since the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup, including three hundreds. Gill, on the other hand, has managed 506 runs in 21 innings at a strike rate of 136 in the same period.
Gill is likely to be given the nod to open again when India takes on South Africa in the third T20I in Dharamsala on Sunday. With eight more T20Is in hand for India before the T20 World Cup 2026, the Men in Blue side will need to sort out their top three.
