‘You told us that Sanju Samson can bat down when we said…’: Former India opener slams management for poor handling of wicketkeeper

ormer India opener Aakash Chopra has slammed the team management for their muddled reasoning for Sanju Samson's demotion from the opening spot since the arrival of vice-captain Shubman Gill and his subsequent snub from the XI.

Sanju Samson was dropped for the 3rd and 4th T20Is in Australia after batting at No. 3 in Melbourne. (CREIMAS)

3 min readNov 6, 2025 01:56 PM IST First published on: Nov 6, 2025 at 01:25 PM IST

After batting at number 3 in a solitary outing in the Australia tour, wicket-keeper Sanju Samson has seemingly lost his spot to Jitesh Sharma, who sparkled with a quick cameo in India’s win in Hobart in his customary lower-middle order spot.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has slammed the team management for their muddled reasoning for Samson’s demotion from the opening spot since the arrival of vice-captain Shubman Gill and his subsequent snub from the XI.

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‘What are you doing with Samson’?

“The biggest question that is looming large is – what have we decided about Sanju Samson? Sanju not playing is a big, big, big question as to why we are doing like that. We played Sanju and he had done decently as well. I won’t say he had done extraordinarily, but he was okay. You made him bat up the order against Oman and he scored a fifty,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Date	Opposition	Runs	Position
10 Sep	v U.A.E. Dubai	-	DNB
14 Sep	v Pakistan Dubai	-	DNB
19 Sep	v Oman Abu Dhabi	56	3
21 Sep	v Pakistan Dubai	13	5
24 Sep	v Bangladesh Dubai	-	DNB
26 Sep	v Sri Lanka Dubai	39	5
28 Sep	v Pakistan Dubai	24	5
29 Oct	v Australia Canberra	-	DNB
31 Oct	v Australia Melbourne	23	3
2 Nov	v Australia Hobart	-	Dropped
6 Nov	v Australia Queensland	-	Dropped

Different Positions

DNB Instances

Times Dropped

Indian Express InfoGenIE

Since the last T20 World Cup, Samson has been India’s third-highest run-scorer in all T20Is and revelled in the opening slot alongside Abhishek Sharma. Samson also struck a record three hundreds in the previous calendar year. Post the return of Gill for the Asia Cup in September, Samson was left with a middle-order role outside his usual slot in the top-order.

“You played him in the (Asia Cup) final and he scored a few runs. You only told us that he can bat down the order. We were saying you should make him open only, and if you are not doing that, play Jitesh. That was my original position, but you said you will be able to take care of Sanju Samson and will play him, and you know what you are doing. We respected that,” he added.

Will the same happen to Jitesh?

“You played him, the team won the Asia Cup, and we clapped. After that, his batting didn’t come in Canberra. Okay sir, no problems. You sent him at No. 3 in Melbourne. Surprise, but we say okay sir, but then you dropped him. Now I am unable to understand whether I should again say okay sir, because it’s not understandable what we are trying to do,” he said.

Chopra further questioned the team management for their wavering selections and quizzed whether they will provide the backing for Jitesh if he is preferred over Samson.

“So whether Sanju Samson will play or not is a big question, in my opinion. If Jitesh was played and he has performed decently as well, scored 20-odd runs, logic says you will stay with him, but whether you will, I don’t know sir. I don’t have the answer to that question,” Chopra observed.