With just two months left before the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, Sanju Samson has started losing his grip on a secured spot in India’s T20I playing eleven.
Not very long ago, the wicketkeeper-batsman was a certain pick in the team. However, the situation has completely changed for him since Shubman Gill returned to the T20I team during this year's Asia Cup. Before Gill's return, Sanju Samson was opening the innings for India in the shortest format of the game and had seemingly cemented his place.
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Sanju Samson became a regular in India's T20 setup after Rohit Sharma's retirement in 2024. He showed his class by scoring three centuries in the second half of 2024. In 13 innings over the last two years, he has scored 417 runs.
However, things have not gone as expected for the Kerala star in recent times. In order to make room for Gill in the team, he was demoted to the middle-order and is now not even finding a place in the playing eleven. He was once again dropped from the team when India locked horns against South Africa in the first T20I on Tuesday (December 9).
It was the fourth time in the last six T20Is since the Asia Cup that Samson had to make way for Jitesh Sharma in the playing eleven. The way things are unfolding at the moment, it won't be surprising if Samson struggles to get back into the playing eleven anytime soon.
Sanju Samson's place in India squad questioned:
As Sanju Samsons struggles to find a place in the playing eleven, former Kolkata Knight Riders team director Joy Bhattacharjya has said that there is no point keeping him in the squad if he does not open the innings. He stated that picking Rishabh Pant as a backup-wicketkeeper would make more sense since he has the experience of batting in the middle-order.
"If you’re not going to bat Sanju up the order, then keeping him really doesn’t make sense. You might as well keep Rishabh Pant, who is used to batting at 4, 5, 6, because Sanju Samson has proven himself, he’s scored three centuries at the top and done really well for you there.
"If you’ve fixed that spot and Shubman has taken it, then your keeper has to be a finisher, which is Jitesh. I think India has gone with that and decided this is the process. In that case, I would bring in a second finisher-keeper as backup, because it makes more sense to go down that road rather than have Sanju batting out of position. There’s no point," Bhattacharjya told Cricbuzz.
Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock, who was part of the same panel, also shared his views on the situation. The Proteas great pointed out that Gill has been elevated to the 'Virat Kohli–Rohit Sharma' bracket and he would always be preferred over Samson.
"Yes, Sanju got a raw deal. But, you know, those opportunities are often created by people being injured or being rested, whatever it may be, and players step up and perform. I suppose you kind of need to look at Shubman Gill from a different perspective now. I think he is almost being elevated to the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. And when they came back into teams, where did they go? They went back into their position. It wasn’t a case of shifting them down," Pollock said.
"I think what he’s shown, even in that Test series in England, is that he’s the number one, isn’t he, batting-wise? So I get the fact that he was the man in possession, and with the stature that he has, it’s a rough one on Sanju because he’s played so well and he hasn’t disappointed when he’s been given the chance. It’s just team dynamics.
"When Shubman comes back, and I’m glad he’s recovered from his neck injury, I think he’s the best player, so he goes to the top. And you also look at the partnership he’s formed with Abhishek over the years. They know each other’s game really well and bounce off each other nicely," he added.
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