Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has hailed head coach Gautam Gambhir for openly accepting how difficult it was to leave Sanju Samson out of the T20I team. Recently, Gautam Gambhir admitted that dropping the Indian wicketkeeper-batter during the England tour was one of the toughest decisions of his coaching career.
Samson made a strong comeback in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. He scored two consecutive fifties and finished the T20I series with 117 runs at an average of 39 and a superb strike rate of 180. His form also helped him keep his place for the West Indies series. Earlier, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma get strong 2027 World Cup backing before West Indies ODIs.
Sanju Samson was excluded from India's playing XI midway through the England tour after a poor run with the bat. His absence opened the door for young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his international debut on the England tour in July 2026.
This issue became a controversy when Samson was also left out of the Zimbabwe tour, although he returned for the final match of that series. However, the Indian team management decided to continue with the combination that had delivered success in the T20 World Cup earlier in the year. Amid this, Ravichandran Ashwin issues 'Slow-Pitch' warning to India after Japan T20I scare.
After India completed a 3-0 series sweep against Afghanistan, Gautam Gambhir admitted that leaving Samson out in England had been a very difficult call because of his past performances, although the team also had to consider current form while considering his place.
Gautam Gambhir was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz, "Obviously, it was tough [leaving him out in the UK]. Probably the toughest decision I've taken in my coaching tenure is obviously leaving him out in that England series. Because obviously, the way he's performed before that. But again, sometimes you go with players' form as well.”
Ravichandran Ashwin says dropping Sanju Samson was wrong, praises Gautam Gambhir’s honesty
Ravichandran Ashwin has hailed Gautam Gambhir's honesty but also made his own view clear. He felt the decision to drop Samson was wrong and warned that such moves can affect a player's confidence. He feels selection decisions should not depend only on recent form.
He believes the trust between the management and a player should also be considered, especially when dealing with established players. Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “The decision to drop Sanju was wrong. What's so honest about it? That is a fact. Sometimes when you take such a decision, you lose the player, and the player's confidence gets broken.”
The former all-rounder added, “But I really love the fact that he came out and admitted his mistake. My feeling is that all the decisions going forward should be taken from this perspective. You should also take the trust factor of the player into account. Then it will be much better.”
Ashwin questions Delhi pitches after India’s dominance
Ashwin also raised concerns about the pitches used during the T20I series between India and Afghanistan in Delhi. The matches were played on flat surfaces that produced high-scoring games and suited Indian batters. Afghanistan struggled to match India's scoring pace.
The former off-spinner signed off by saying, "If Delhi were Afghanistan's home ground, they should prepare the pitches, right? If they had the power to prepare pitches, they would not have played on pitches like that. Those were typical IPL pitches where Afghanistan faced difficulty.
The home team should have an advantage. If that advantage is low-scoring matches, then we should be used to watching low-scoring games. We should not keep expecting as an Indian viewer that we will only watch high-scoring games.”
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