'Samson got a raw deal; Gill is being seen like Kohli, Rohit': India told to consider Pant if Sanju's fate is sealed

[rollingstoned]

'Samson got a raw deal; Gill is being seen like Kohli, Rohit': India told to consider Pant if Sanju's fate is sealed

On Tuesday, Sanju Samson missed out for the fourth straight match, with Jitesh Sharma retained for the series opener against South Africa in Cuttack.

For the fourth time in India’s last six T20Is since the Asia Cup in September, Sanju Samson was rested to make way for Jitesh Sharma in the playing XI. Primarily an opener, and having proved his worth in that role since the end of the last T20 World Cup in June, the wicketkeeper-batter was pushed into a middle-order position after the BCCI unveiled their ‘Shubman Gill plan’ and marked his return to T20Is during the Asia Cup. After a brief run of just five innings in the new role, Samson was dropped as India opted for a specialist finisher in Jitesh, who also keeps wickets.

 

India's Sanju Samson ahead of the first T20I cricket match between India and South Africa at Barabati Stadium, in Cuttack(PTI)

 

On Tuesday, Samson missed out for the fourth straight match, with Jitesh retained for the series opener against South Africa in Cuttack. The call sparked both sympathy and a harsh dose of reality from former players.

 

 

Speaking to Cricbuzz, former Kolkata Knight Riders team director Joy Bhattacharjya said there was little point in keeping Samson in the T20I squad if Gill had been locked in as India’s T20 World Cup opener next February. He argued that pushing a proven opener, who has scored three centuries in the role in the past year, into the middle order made little sense when selectors could instead pick another wicketkeeper-finisher like Rishabh Pant.

 

“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," he said.

Since 2023, Samson has the second-best strike rate (182.89) among all active batters who have opened for India, standing only behind Abhishek Sharma (196.55). In 13 innings over the last two years, he has scored 417 runs, including three centuries.

Former South Africa all-rounder Shaun Pollock, who was part of the same panel, felt Samson was unfortunate, especially after the BCCI elevated Gill into the ‘Virat Kohli–Rohit Sharma’ bracket, a status he reinforced with his performances in the Test series in England.

 

“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.”

[BacktoCricaddict]

Pant has struggled forever in T20Is. Bad, bad idea to bring him back. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

Speaking of "over-rated" concepts - the idea of "they know each other well... bounce off of each other ... " is over-rated. They are over-complicating cricket. 

[tapandrun]

Just shows how twisted Ind cric. expert are. when and where did Pant perform in t20is and a finisher ???

You already have a batter not suiting to t20 format in Gill bring another one Pant.

 

And if you drop Sanju who is back-up opener ?? Any of the opener can have freak injury like subhman had who would you ask to open ?? Incase of concussion sub ???

 

Can clearly see winning is never the priority 

Edited December 10, 2025 by tapandrun

[Suhaan]

25 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Just shows how twisted Ind cric. expert are. when and where did Pant perform in t20is and a finisher ???

You already have a batter not suiting to t20 format in Gill bring another one Pant.

 

And if you drop Sanju who is back-up opener ?? Any of the opener can have freak injury like subhman had who would you ask to open ?? Incase of concussion sub ???

 

Can clearly see winning is never the priority 

These are highly paid chewts 

They talk clownery thinking they are giving some highly classified information

What we need is genuine breakdowns, strategy, psychology, data, and nuance

Edited December 10, 2025 by Suhaan

[tapandrun]

25 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

These are highly paid chewts 

They talk clownery thinking they are giving some highly classified information

What we need is genuine breakdowns, strategy, psychology, data, and nuance

Do not think ppl like joy are fols, these ppl have run teams, are still involved in cricket they do cricket shows regularly .

 

Think these ppl knows that most Ind crick fans donot understand cricket and v.high % may nt even played or have been to nets, so they say what ever they like.

They know fans/viewers have their favourite players based on 1-2 games and regardless of formats so they say what ever suites that time  

[Suhaan]

4 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Do not think ppl like joy are fols, these ppl have run teams, are still involved in cricket they do cricket shows regularly .

 

Think these ppl knows that most Ind crick fans donot understand cricket and v.high % may nt even played or have been to nets, so they say what ever they like.

They know fans/viewers have their favourite players based on 1-2 games and regardless of formats so they say what ever suites that time  

No I don't think hes that wise about judging players

Guys like Ganguly have advocated for all format captaincy for Gill recently,don't underestimate their mediocrity 

[tapandrun]

19 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

No I don't think hes that wise about judging players

Guys like Ganguly have advocated for all format captaincy for Gill recently,don't underestimate their mediocrity 

These ppl advocating all format coaches and captains is not for cricketing reasons. again not telling the real reasons is the issue. they know what they are talking about but they do not tell why to fans and give non sense reasons.

 

The issue comes up which captain/coach have dibs on certain player. Like say bhumrah test coach would want him in to play test and white-ball coach would want him to play for them. Players like Pandaya if fully fit both coaches would like to have him.

 

And lets say a coach picks a newer player and grooms him and he hits forms then both coaches/captains would like to have him. 

 

Its not about what goes on the field but what goes out side. Plus both coaches will have their own staff and run their own drills and practice sessions.

Example say a Gill kind of player who is nt that solid in technique for a test batter and nt particularly suited for t20is either . White-ball coach will ask him to work on hitting ability adding more shots and take more risks, on other hand red-ball coach will ask him to refine technique weed-out risk taking shots.

 

 

bcci at the top wants to avoid all this and delegate this to coaches and captains and not to put their hands in such a mess regualaly

 

And in this particular case they know gill is the prob. but their solution is to drop sanju and bring pant... how/why ???

Edited December 10, 2025 by tapandrun

[Nikhil_cric]

Why? Jitesh is doing a decent job. Joy da talking nonsense. 

[diga]

3 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Why? Jitesh is doing a decent job. Joy da talking nonsense. 

Sanju did well in the limited opportunities he got... Don't think he got a long run as some of the others got

[tapandrun]

6 minutes ago, Nikhil_cric said:

Why? Jitesh is doing a decent job. Joy da talking nonsense. 

he is trying to make it look like if this is sanju vs pant issue. taking attention away from gill

[Lord]

All problems started when Gill walked in that too as VC. What has he done to be VC ahead of Pandya,Axar or even Bumrah?

 

Sanju has done well as opener keeper

[tapandrun]

43 minutes ago, Lord said:

All problems started when Gill walked in that too as VC. What has he done to be VC ahead of Pandya,Axar or even Bumrah?

 

Sanju has done well as opener keeper

It was clear since the day Rohit and Kolhi retired in the T20i wc that they are looking at Gill as the next all format captain.

 

He was elected the test captain to Eng series when his test avg was just 35. He scored some runs and they thought that the time is good and they can bring in him in all formats as captain/VC. The Asia cup had the opportunity where a lot of weaker teams were playing and he could have scored some runs and that would have given him some breathing time , but it dint went as per the plan .

 

But they continued with that they have thought and gave him Odi captaincy and Ind lost Odi series in Aus he didnt get runs their either but rohit and kolhi did.

Home series vs wi he was only 3rd best batter.

 

bcci is looking for a star or a super star with marketability potential.

 

where are sanju's fan who use to post his avgs. comparisons ??? 

what happened to gg who would do programs discussing star culture , 1 player not bigger than team????

 

Edited December 10, 2025 by tapandrun

[Nikhil_cric]

3 hours ago, diga said:

Sanju did well in the limited opportunities he got... Don't think he got a long run as some of the others got

Even if we forget that, there's no need to get Pant back into this format in the middle order when Jitesh has kept well and even batted OK. 

 

I agree with @tapandrun that it's just all about protecting Gill. 

[Ultimate_Game]

Whoever made Gill the "chosen one" and anointed him "Prince" is the cause for this fiasco. Iyer deserved to be in the team as a captain along with Jaiswal but we phucked everything up thanks to making way for Gill and half the batting order is playing out of place and our whole lineup and team balance is compromised in order to accommodate him.

[Lord]

1 minute ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Whoever made Gill the "chosen one" and anointed him "Prince" is the cause for this fiasco. Iyer deserved to be in the team as a captain along with Jaiswal but we phucked everything up thanks to making way for Gill and half the batting order is playing out of place and our whole lineup and team balance is compromised in order to accommodate him.

 

We all know who that is

[Ultimate_Game]

4 minutes ago, Lord said:

 

We all know who that is

Messers Agarka and Gambhir. Somehow Gambhir hates Iyer. If Gambhir got along with Iyer, none of this would be an issue.

[diga]

19 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Messers Agarka and Gambhir. Somehow Gambhir hates Iyer. If Gambhir got along with Iyer, none of this would be an issue.

 Dravid went on to publicly say that Iyer should play ranji to be considered back into test team 

 

Rahul Dravid to Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan: 'Score runs, force selectors to pick you' | ESPNcricinfo

 

Edited December 11, 2025 by diga

[AKane]

Pressure on Gill and SKY to rediscover T20 form.... it is happening. SKY, SKY, how high will he fly? And Gill.... he is Gill after all.

 

https://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/pressure-on-gill-sky-to-rediscover-t20-form-india-south-africa/20251210.htm

 

[Vk1]

Jiostar backing out of icc rights will further complicate indian cricket. What if the next round of indian cricket rights and the ipl don't bring the expected amount ( likely after roko + msd retire ). We might see the bcci doing things what gambhir did with the test team. 

Edited December 11, 2025 by Vk1