Former Indian cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath feels that head coach Gautam Gambhir caved in to ‘media pressure’ and ‘hype’ when he brought in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after dropping Sanju Samson during the England tour.
Badrinath claimed that it was not a cricketing choice. After three games on the UK trip, Samson was benched, and Sooryavanshi suffered the same fate, losing his spot to the Kerala superstar after three poor performances. Later on, Gambhir acknowledged that he made a mistake in his choice, claiming that it caused him to have the few sleepless nites of his career.
Badrinath On Sooryavanshi’s Selection
made a statement that he could not sleep after dropping Sanju Samson. He said that it was the most difficult decision. Maybe it must have been a difficult decision. As a coach, there is a lot to see. Vaibhav had a lot of media attention after that IPL season. He created a lot of hype, so the pressure does build irrespective of who the coach is. Maybe in that pressure you make some decisions. So I don’t think it was a cricketing decision. There can be reasons beyond cricket as well,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Samson was eventually benched for the T20I rubber match against Afghanistan after made an impression during the three-T20I tour to Zimbabwe. For four straight games, Samson started alongside Abhishek Sharma. Samson and Sooryavanshi both participated in the 11 at the 2026 Asian Games after India decided to field a batter short, with the former batting at number three.
Samson-Abhishek is anticipated to start again when the squad returns to full strength for the T20I rubber match against the West Indies, which starts on Tuesday in Lucknow.