Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Dinesh Karthik has raised questions regarding Sanju Samson’s place in the Indian team ahead of the T20I series against Afghanistan. Samson had scored 321 runs in five matches of T20 World Cup at a strike rate of almost 200 and thus played a key role in taking India to glory.

The Kerala batter also scored 477 runs in 14 matches for Chennai Super Kings. However, he was dropped from the team on the UK tour after managing three low scores (two innings against Ireland and one against England).

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his T20I debut against England in the second T20I and Samson was then dropped for three games. He returned to the playing XI for the final game but could not get a big score. The flamboyant batter was also rested from the Zimbabwe tour.

“What is the batting order going to look like? Where does Vaibhav Suryavanshi stand, and what about Sanju Samson? How are you going to fit him in? He was such an important player in the World Cup and was dropped midway through that England series. Where does he stand?” Dinesh Karthik questioned in a video on his Instagram handle.

After India suffered six losses on the UK tour, including series loss against Ireland, Karthik wants the team to back their plans for the series against Afghanistan.

“I want this Indian T20 team to understand what their identity is. New captain, new vice-captain. They haven’t got the result in Ireland or in England. They were absolutely outplayed there. What does it take? What is their plan? What is the bowling looking like? Who are the players you are going to trust? A lot of this is not just about winning the series, it’s about understanding what they need to take out from this series against Afghanistan,” he remarked.

The first T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played on Sunday.