The anger of the fans is also justified, Sanju Samson recently took the Rajasthan Royals to the final and also batted well. Samson is only part of India’s squad for the first T20I but he lost his place as soon as Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant came back. Samson was also not part of the squad for the home series against South Africa which was a shocking decision. He made a stellar return for the two-match T20I series in Ireland, giving a befitting reply to his critics.
Collingwood believes England will not be intimidated by the target India sets
The fans did not take lightly the fact that Samson was dropped despite scoring his maiden international fifty in the only occasion against Ireland in the second T20I in Dublin. The wicket-keeper batsman scored 77 runs in 42 balls when he opened the batting for India in the second T20I in Ireland. He also added 176 runs with Deepak Hooda (104), which was India’s highest score for any wicket in the shortest format of the game.
In their last two T20I series, India rested many of their frontline players. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja were rested while Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer played the South Africa series.
Hardik Pandya then led an inexperienced side in Ireland and the same group will be present for the first T20I against England as it begins a day after the end of the fifth Test. It will be interesting to see how the team looks and performs once all the big players return.
With the BCCI selectors looking for a possible eleven for the T20 World Cup, not giving Sanju Samson a chance in the big matches proves that the BCCI doesn’t want to make any changes in the middle order.