After the Men in Blue's 2-0 series defeat to Ireland, former India player Aakash Chopra had some minor concerns regarding Sanju Samson's spot in the starting lineup. He emphasized that when someone must be left off, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter is typically the first man sacrificed.
India suffered their first-ever whitewash in any international format against Ireland after losing the second T20I in Belfast by one run on Sunday, June 28. Samson was dismissed for a golden duck in the second game after scoring five runs in the first.
Speaking on India's 0-2 T20I series defeat to Ireland, Chopra pointed out that Samson's place in the starting lineup is in jeopardy due to his consecutive mistakes. Shreyas Iyer hasn't been among the runs lately, Chopra noted, pointing out that Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan both got out cheaply.
"Sanju got out on the first ball. Now I am getting a little worried about Sanju because he is the first player on whom the wrath falls. If someone has to go out, the first man on the chopping block is Sanju. So I was secretly hoping he would score runs, and definitely in the second match once he got out in the first one.
Jai Moondra actually bowls well. Abhishek Sharma got out on zero, Ishan Kishan got run out, and in the last two or three matches, whether you see the ODI series or here, Shreyas Iyer has not been scoring runs, and he is getting out the same way," Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.
"Then you realize you are down in the dumps. Suddenly, you sent Axar Patel up the order, moved Shivam Dube down, had expectations from Suryansh Shedge, and lost the game. You say, "How did that happen?" he observed.
Abhishek Sharma, just like Sanju Samson, was dismissed for a golden duck; Ishan Kishan (12 off 11) and Shreyas Iyer (10 off 7) couldn't contribute much either. Tilak Varma made 55 but took 48 balls to get there, and the pressure of the required net run rate proved to be too much.
According to Aakash Chopra, India lost consecutive games against a team they shouldn't have lost any of.
"We might say that we lost by just one run because Harshit Rana hit fours and sixes and made the match thrilling, and Prince Yadav hit a six off the last ball. Forget about the one run. The fact is that you have lost two matches to a team you shouldn't have lost even one to," he said.
Chopra further noted that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi might make his India debut against England.
"This will come in the trivia 20 years from now as to when India was clean-swept by Ireland, and you would say it happened in 2026. It seems like Vaibhav Suryavanshi is inching closer to his international debut now because changes will have to be made if the batting performance is like this," Chopra observed.
The England T20I series begins on July 1 at Chester-le-Street.
