Sanju Samson's snub from India’s playing XI in the ongoing T20I series against England has become one of the major talking points.
After just three failures on the tour of UK, India’s T20 World Cup 2026 hero made way for teenage prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during the second T20I against England. He did not feature in the third and fourth T20Is as well.
Speaking on JioHotstar, former India cricketer Parthiv Patel minced no words and stated that the decision to bench midway through the England T20I series defies logic.
While acknowledging Samson's past inconsistencies, Patel questioned why the team management abruptly dropped him.
“Why is it always Sanju Samson who misses out? If you look at Sanju Samson’s career over the last 11-12 years, the one question that has always followed him is consistency," Patel said.
“Either the player who isn’t scoring quickly enough gets left out, or the one who has been inconsistent. You can’t make decisions based on both emotion and logic. So emotionally, yes, it was the right call to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a chance. But if you go purely by logic, then why has Sanju Samson been left out? So, I think this decision was taken emotionally," he added.
Parthiv Patel highlighted the common "grass is greener" syndrome in cricket fandom. Fans often assume that players sitting on the bench or left out of the squad would automatically perform better than those currently playing. He cited the public clamor for Shreyas Iyer during the T20 World Cup, which shifted to Rajat Patidar once Iyer returned to the lineup as captain.
“This is just how we are. Whenever someone isn’t in the team, we automatically feel they’re the one who would have done a better job. At the last T20 World Cup, Shreyas Iyer wasn’t there, and everyone kept asking, ‘Why isn’t Shreyas Iyer in the team?'" he said.
“Now that he’s back, people are saying Rajat Patidar should be in the side," he added.
India went down by nine wickets in the penultimate T20I, thereby conceding an unassailable 0-3 lead to England in the five-match series.
Reflecting on the debacle, Patel questioned Indian batting unit’s planning for the tour. “The biggest change we made to our T20 cricket in 2022 was our intent. We weren’t playing with the same intent as the rest of the world. Skill has never been an issue with these players," he said.
“Ishan Kishan plays the short ball very well. Whenever Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was bowled short in the IPL, he went after it, and Abhishek Sharma can play short balls as well. But the thing is, if the ball isn’t there to play the pull shot, then you simply can’t play it. You’re playing across the line, which is poor shot selection. Hence, it all comes down to lack of planning. England have been the better team, both in terms of planning and execution," he remarked.
India will look to salvage some pride when they take on England in the fifth and final T20I in Southampton on Saturday (July 11).
