India head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed the toughest decision he has taken during his coaching tenure, describing the decision to drop Sanju Samson for the T20I series in England as “probably the toughest”.
Speaking after India completed a 3-0 T20I series whitewash against Afghanistan, Gambhir said the call was particularly difficult because of Samson's strong form leading into the England tour and his status as Player of the Tournament in India's T20 World Cup triumph.
“It was tough, probably the toughest decision I've taken in my coaching tenure, leaving him out in that England series because of the way he performed before that,” he told reporters.
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Gambhir further noted that the team management decided to bring back the World Cup-winning opening combination of Samson and Abhishek Sharma for the Afghanistan series.
“I wanted to go back to the combination we had during the World Cup, because those guys after three or four failures don't become bad players,” he added.
The decision paid off, as Samson scored 117 runs across the three matches, including two half-centuries. He returned to the top of the order alongside Abhishek Sharma, while teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was left on the bench.
Samson's England Struggles And Return
Samson entered the Afghanistan series after briefly losing his spot to Sooryavanshi. He played only four games during the tour to Ireland and England.
He was also left out of the tour to Zimbabwe, where Sooryavanshi went on to become the highest run-scorer and was named Player of the Series after scoring 151 runs in three matches.
With Samson back in the opening combination alongside Abhishek, India went on to win the Afghanistan series 3-0.
Gambhir's comments come amid an ongoing debate over India's T20I batting order and the balance between proven performers and emerging talent.
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