Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has slammed India’s selection strategy after seven-wicket win against Afghanistan in the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Sunday. India decided to bring back Sanju Samson in the playing XI and dropped Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

In the last T20I series against Zimbabwe, Sooryavanshi had opened the innings with Abhishek Sharma, whereas Samson was dropped from the squad.

Samson had played the first and fifth T20I against England, whereas Sooryavanshi had received his chance in three games. Kaif questioned what Samson did in between the Zimbabwe series and the Afghanistan series.

“What did Sanju do in between to get a chance today? Usually, when you are dropped, you play here and there and regain some form; nothing like that has happened. Why did he get a chance? That is a massive question? Why didn’t you go with the same combination after Vaibhav scored runs in Zimbabwe, that is another question. In my opinion, they are hesitating a bit, they are unsure of what their best opening combination is. The Indian team are still thinking about it. Vaibhav must be saying what did I do wrong? So this is a state of confusion going on, there is no doubt about it,” the former batter said on Cricbuzz.

On the other hand, former Indian fast bowler Mohit Sharma revealed the two reasons why India is backing Samson ahead of Sooryavanshi.

“I think of a couple of reasons behind it. Firstly, Sanju Samson is a senior player, and he had a really good World Cup as well. The second reason is that when you play Vaibhav, you have a lot of left-handers in the batting order. Maybe they are thinking about the left-hand-right-hand combination, and maybe that is why Sanju Samson is being chosen,” he said.

Samson scored 321 runs in five matches of the T20 World Cup at a strike rate of almost 200 and was awarded Player of the Tournament.

The second T20I between India and Afghanistan will be played on Tuesday in Delhi.