Mumbai: Sanju Samson’s exclusion from the Zimbabwe T20I series has raised several unanswered questions. First and foremost: Was the Kerala batter dropped following his three consecutive failures in the UK-two matches against Ireland and the first of the 5-match series against England?
If so, have his batting heroics from the T20 World Cup been forgotten? And, would it have any bearing on his place in India’s 15-member Asian Games squad picked last month?
While the BCCI squad announcement press communication makes no mention, sources privy to selection matters say the idea to pick a number of fringe players to Zimbabwe had been discussed before India embarked on the UK tour. Samson is therefore one of the seven players to be rested/rotated from the current squad. It can also be confirmed that there will be no changes in the Asian Games squad. Samson is not out of India’s T20I mix.
The immediate trigger for the outcry over Samson’s exclusion can be attributed to a couple of events. India’s squad for the next series was picked soon after Samson was left out from the 2nd England T20I for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, leaving fans confused if the opener has been left high and dry.
Sooryavanshi factor
The nub of the problem has been the absence of plan on how and when to introduce Sooryavanshi to international cricket. To begin with despite widespread calls from all and sundry for the 15-year-old prodigy to jump the queue, the team management steadfastly maintained that the World Cup winning top order – Samson-Abhishek Sharma-Ishan Kishan – could not be separated in a hurry. Even though Sooryavanshi was ready, his time would come.
Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak said at the start of the Ireland series that it wouldn’t be right “just to give him (Vaibhav) an opportunity, we should drop someone who has already been scoring runs”.
Despite Samson’s three lean scores, ahead of the 2nd T20I against England, bowling coach Morne Morkel kept up with the same sentiment. “I think we just need to also respect the fact that we’ve got the number one batter in T20 cricket, Abhishek Sharma. Sanju was the Player of the World Cup, he had a great IPL. So I think as a coaching staff, it’s only fair to show faith and back your players,” he said.
The day after, the popular call for Sooryavanshi’s boy-to-men transition was taken. Tilak Varma handed the Samastipur bomber his India cap in Old Trafford. Samson had to make way. Pictures of an animated Gautam Gambhir seemingly explaining to Samson the rationale behind his exclusion flashed over social media.
All of this could have been avoided. By raising the pitch on retaining the World Cup top order, the team management may have unwittingly given the impression within the squad and outside that whenever Sooryavanshi – originally picked as the 16th squad member – gets his opportunity, it would be at the expense of an established top-order batter. They failed to contextualize the reduced importance of the spate of T20 bilaterals India would play for the rest of the year. There was no mention of any plan to rest and rotate players in what is an ODI-priority cycle.
Perhaps, there was no such plan and India is chasing wins with the same vigour as the World Cup under new captain Shreyas Iyer. In which case, Samson may not be wrong in believing he has been dropped. Sooryavanshi is expected to get a long rope.
It is learnt, Samson would be spoken to by the selectors. But he would already know what’s left unsaid. In the galaxy of batting stars India has, he is the most vulnerable.
Samson’s inconsistency
Samson’s inconsistency over the years, on occasions his mode of dismissals have contributed to his fate. Whether that’s a fair assessment of Samson’s abilities, having delivered match-winning innings when it mattered at the big stage is open to debate. But this isn’t the first time those in judgement have lost patience with him – whether it is Gambhir or Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee. The opener was not in India’s World Cup starting eleven after a spate of failures.
It could be argued whether Samson could have kept his place for the Zimbabwe series as a reserve to Ishan Kishan. The counter argument is the selectors saw greater merit in grooming Prabhsimran Singh than asking the experienced Samson to warm the bench. That Samson was the only established batter for whom the selectors are looking for back-up options, again conveys a message that not everyone will like.