So glad Gill and Samson not part of Playing XI !

[Ultimate_Game]

Finally we went with the best team we can put on the field. Till now we were forced to either go with panauti tuk tul Gill or slightly better sifarshi Samson. So glad Ishan finally made it to the playing XI as I rate him highly after his 2023 Asia Cup knock against Pak. Ishan may fail but he's someone who shows up in tough matches. Gill and Samson combined can't play these kind of knocks and shyte their pants in tough situations.

 

Ishan is someone like Pandya in that respect. People may not like his attitude but you need someone like him when the going gets tough. Ideally, I would go with Jaiswal as an opener but Ishan or Suryavanshi are decent choices as well. Go with players who can handle adversity instead of players who "look good" and score soft runs.

[Frustrated]

T20 careers of both these Sooperstars are over.  

[Ultimate_Game]

1 minute ago, Frustrated said:

T20 careers of both these Sooperstars are over.  

 

Inshallah! 

[bowl_out]

Glad that quick decisions were made. Ishan was not even part of the squad before NZ series. Admire the quick selection and fast track him based on form

[The Realist]

Missing KL Rahul?

[vvvslaxman]

Bottomline is T20 is a game of form. Always go with inform players.  The word "ceiling" doesn't apply  to this format. There is a good chance prabhsimran playing a blinder in this format if he is in form.

[IndianRenegade]

4 hours ago, Frustrated said:

T20 careers of both these Sooperstars are over.  

When was Samson a superstar?

he hardly got consistent chances until the last few games.

 

He is still a good back up when we need to rest Kishan or is injured. Gill & Pant seem to be finished for now.

 

 

Edited February 15 by IndianRenegade

[vvvslaxman]

2 hours ago, bowl_out said:

Glad that quick decisions were made. Ishan was not even part of the squad before NZ series. Admire the quick selection and fast track him based on form

He literally had to break the door down

[Ultimate_Game]

2 hours ago, IndianRenegade said:

When was Samson a superstar?

he hardly got consistent chances until the last few games.

 

He is still a good back up when we need to rest Kishan or is injured. Gill & Pant seem to be finished for now.

 

 

 

There shouldn't be any way back for Samson. I would prefer Jitesh Sharma or Urvil Patel ahead of Samson as a wk in T20s.

[Ultimate_Game]

2 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

He literally had to break the door down

 

Am glad selectors made the right decision for once by kicking out Gill and Samson at the right time.

 

The only decision I don't agree with is not giving Jaiswal a chance ahead of Gill, and not trying out someone like Parag and Vipraj Nigam in place of Sundar. But for the most part the T20 selection is ok this tourney.

[Frustrated]

5 hours ago, IndianRenegade said:

When was Samson a superstar?

he hardly got consistent chances until the last few games.

 

He is still a good back up when we need to rest Kishan or is injured. Gill & Pant seem to be finished for now.

 

 

Regarding the chances given to samson, I would slightly differ.   Agree, he was not being included consistently in the initial phase of his career.  But in the last couple of yrs, he has played 90% of the matches as WK & has batted as opener in most of them (Opening is his most preferred slot, since his game against spinners is terrible, with zero footwork).  Except one or two decent innings, he has been a failure throughout.  It's a different story that we won most of those matches due to our stable middle order.   Since Jan 2024, he has played 26 matches, at an average of 21, with SR of 109.  This is much worse than Pant.  

Edited February 16 by Frustrated

[Ultimate_Game]

28 minutes ago, Frustrated said:

Regarding the chances given to samson, I would slightly differ.   Agree, he was not being included consistently in the initial phase of his career.  But in the last couple of yrs, he has played 90% of the matches as WK & has batted as opener in most of them (Opening is his most preferred slot, since his game against spinners is terrible, with zero footwork).  Except one of two decent innings, he has been a failure throughout.  It's a different story that we won most of those matches due to our stable middle order.   Since Jan 2024, he has played 26 matches, at an average of 21, with SR of 109.  This is much worse than Pant.  

 

In fact I would trust Pant much more than Samson

[tapandrun]

3 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Bottomline is T20 is a game of form. Always go with inform players.  The word "ceiling" doesn't apply  to this format. There is a good chance prabhsimran playing a blinder in this format if he is in form.

T20 in longterm is not about form, its about ability to play t20. Batters having power game, batter having both off and leg-side game vs both spin and pace.

 

There is nothing like form in t20 on large, Top3 batters gets all the time there no time for #4 and down, so even if they have form it wont matter after 2-3 games as they wont get much balls to face.

 

There are not many batter who are able to score quickly and consistently, if batter is trying to score quickly they are going to take risks and the ability to minimize risk is about the ability mentioned above.

 

Batter can play impact-less cricket match after match that does not matter, when batter's innings can not get over the line then 50 of 35 balls is nnot better than some1 scoring quick 25 say of 12 balls in winning if for the team.

 

Game has moved on from form and out of form its about ability to hit 6s vs both pace and spin on both leg and off-side.

[Gollum]

Ishan selection was a masterstroke. Credit where due to Agarkar and co. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

On 2/15/2026 at 9:18 PM, Gollum said:

Ishan selection was a masterstroke. Credit where due to Agarkar and co. 

A no-brainer, really. The obvious choice was staring them in the face. 

[IndianRenegade]

On 2/15/2026 at 6:18 PM, Gollum said:

Ishan selection was a masterstroke. Credit where due to Agarkar and co. 

per reporting it was RP singh who pushed of his inclusion.

[Chaos]

1 minute ago, IndianRenegade said:

per reporting it was RP singh who pushed of his inclusion.

Whoaaa . You giving credit to agakar?  Thats like @Lord agreeeing to anyyyyyything

[cricketfan28]

Samson had the potential to be future Sharma ...it was a shame ..Gill is okayish.

[Ultimate_Game]

38 minutes ago, IndianRenegade said:

per reporting it was RP singh who pushed of his inclusion.

 

Bhagwan bhala kare RP Singh ka. A true hero! 

[Number]

For someone who endured years of pain of watching Rahane as T20 opener and Jadeja as T20 finisher/hitter, I am so happy to see this current batting line up.