‘Eventual loser will be Team India’: Ashwin on Samson’s omission from ZIM series

“Two players who are doing well in the team ethos. If we show a lack of confidence like that, all the other players in the team will think that they are next. If they know they are the next, why will they play at a higher strike rate? They will knock them out. If they have to score 50 in 25 balls, they will score in 32 balls. The eventual loser will be Team India,” he added.

Samson played a stellar role in India’s run to the 2026 T20 World Cup title. He then blew hot and cold for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL before managing scores of 5 and a duck in India’s humiliating 2-0 defeat to Ireland. Samson then scored just one run in India’s first T20I against England, which was eventually washed off.

The 31-year-old was then replaced at the top of the order by Sooryavanshi in the second T20I, with the latter thus becoming the youngest to ever make his debut for India. Samson had been playing as a pure batter in the ongoing tours of Ireland and England, with Kishan keeping wickets. Apart from Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh are other players who are part of the Indian squad and haven’t been named for the tour of Zimbabwe.