India decided to draft Sanju Samson in the playing XI in the T20 World Cup consistently from the game against Zimbabwe
The Call
Gautam Gambhir, the Head Coach of the Indian cricket team, has stated that the decision to draft Sanju Samson in the playing XI during the 2026 T20 World Cup was driven by an aggressive mindset. He was not brought into the team due to any technical deficiency.
Gambhir remarked that Sanju possesses the ability to turn the tide of a match in his team’s favour during the Powerplay. In an interview given to Jio Star, Ganbhir said, “Sanju’s abilities have never been in question. His talent and power-hitting are undeniable. Once he gets going, he can decide a match within the first six overs,”
The Start
In Samson’s absence from the squad, India’s top order featured three left-handed batters—Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, and Tilak Varma.
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The Decision
Gambhir reiterated what he said earlier while addressing the speculation that the decision to draft Sanju Samson in the playing XI was not taken keeping in mind the presence of three left-handers at the top of the order “I’m aware people might think we wanted to change the three left-handers, but that wasn’t the case. We simply wanted to add more firepower, because over the past year and a half, our approach has been to play as aggressively,” he clarified.
The Performance
Samson’s performance against New Zealand prior to the World Cup had been underwhelming; consequently, he did not secure a spot in the playing XI for the initial matches of the ICC tournament. However, when given an opportunity in the do-or-die match against Zimbabwe, Samson regained his rhythm by scoring 24 runs off 15 balls; subsequently, he went on to post scores of an unbeaten 97, 89, and 89 runs in the following three matches.
The Backing
Gambhir also talked about the lack of runs from the bat of Abhishek Sharma, and he shared a similar experience that he had during the 2014 IPL with him “I’ve been through tougher times than him, back in 2014 during the IPL, when I scored three ducks in a row and then another in the fourth game. I just told him that people will focus on your scores and question your form, but really, you’re not out of form. You’re just short of runs,” he said.
The Advice
“You can only truly assess your form after facing 20 to 30 balls, and he hasn’t even reached 20. My advice to him was simply to go out in the next game and play even more aggressively than he did before. “There was never any doubt about Abhishek. Honestly, we had complete faith and trust in everyone,” he concluded.
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