Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes the team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir knows that dropping Sanju Samson was unfair. Samson made way for Sooryavanshi in the second game of the series after a string of poor scores. The Kerala batter was awarded Player of the tournament in the T20 World Cup after he scored 321 runs in five matches.
Samson had a decent run in IPL 2026 as he scored 477 runs in 14 matches of the tournament for the Chennai Super Kings. However, the Indian opener returned with scores of 5, 0 and 1 in the last three innings and the pressure was building on him with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi waiting in the wings.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “Right now, I’m concerned. I’m worried because Sanju Samson has been dropped from the team so quickly. What will Sanju be thinking now? How motivated will he be when he goes to practice in the nets? At the moment, you already have three left-handers in the top order: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Ishan Kishan. Now, they will consider Sanju for No. 3, I’m telling you.. Everyone knows, including the coaching staff and Gautam Gambhir, that this hasn’t been fair to Sanju. So now they’ll have to manage the situation somehow.”
“See, you can’t treat everybody fairly all the time. It’s hard. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. I agree with that. But in this situation, I think the bigger mistake is dropping someone who has given you a great return on investment. Sanju Samson has delivered that return on investment. Even if that stock has a few bad days, you should continue backing it, at least for an extended run.”
Ashwin questioned if social media narratives are playing a role in the team’s selection.
“I’m concerned about one thing. Are social media narratives and all the outside noise finding their way into the team? Is that influencing the decision-making? That’s what worries me. I’ve been watching cricket for a long time and have seen many leaders in the Indian team. They never allowed outside noise to enter the dressing room, and that’s exactly how it should be.”
The third T20I between England and India will be played at Nottingham on Tuesday.
