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After batting just once in the ongoing T20I series against Australia, where wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson was promoted to No. 3, the Indian team management appears to have moved on to Jitesh Sharma. For the second time in the series, Samson was left out of the playing XI, with Jitesh preferred for the middle-order role in both the third and fourth T20Is. The move left former India cricketer Aakash Chopra puzzled, as he also warned that Jitesh could soon face a similar fate.
Since the last T20 World Cup, Samson has been India’s third-highest run-getter in the format, excelling as an opener alongside Abhishek Sharma and registering three centuries last year. However, with Shubman Gill returning for the Asia Cup and being named vice-captain, Samson was asked to adjust — not dropped, but pushed down the order, a role he has rarely played in his T20 career and with no fixed batting position.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra posed a “big question” to head coach Gautam Gambhir, asking why Samson continues to be mistreated.
“The biggest question that is looming large is – what have we decided about Sanju Samson? Sanju not playing is a big, big, big question as to why we are doing like that. We played Sanju and he had done decently as well. I won’t say he had done extraordinarily, but he was okay. You made him bat up the order against Oman and he scored a fifty,” Chopra said.
Chopra further said that the team management’s handling of Samson had created unnecessary confusion, especially after backing him during the Asia Cup, only to sideline him later while leaving Jitesh’s role equally uncertain.
“You played him in the (Asia Cup) final and he scored a few runs. You only told us that he can bat down the order. We were saying you should make him open only, and if you are not doing that, play Jitesh. That was my original position, but you said you will be able to take care of Sanju Samson and will play him, and you know what you are doing. We respected that,” he said.
“You played him, the team won the Asia Cup, and we clapped. After that, his batting didn’t come in Canberra. Okay sir, no problems. You sent him at No. 3 in Melbourne. Surprise, but we say okay sir, but then you dropped him. Now I am unable to understand whether I should again say okay sir, because it’s not understandable what we are trying to do.”
The former India opener concluded by saying that India’s approach has left him baffled, unsure whether Jitesh will be backed or end up being treated the same way as Samson.
“So whether Sanju Samson will play or not is a big question, in my opinion. If Jitesh was played and he has performed decently as well, scored 20-odd runs, logic says you will stay with him, but whether you will, I don’t know sir. I don’t have the answer to that question,” Chopra observed.
