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“Sanju Samson situation makes no sense…”: Ex-player berates Gambhir-led management

Aakash Saini

Aakash Chopra and Sanju Samson [Source: @Sachin_Gandhi7, @Sports_Himanshu/x]Aakash Chopra and Sanju Samson [Source: @Sachin_Gandhi7, @Sports_Himanshu/x]

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has criticized the Indian team management over their constant mishandling of explosive T20I batter Sanju Samson. It is worth noting that Samson was dropped from the Indian playing XI in the recently-concluded third and fourth T20I matches against Australia in Hobart and Gold Coast respectively.

Sanju Samson, who opened the innings for Team India last year and played a crucial role in series wins over South Africa and Bangladesh, was also demoted down the batting order in favor of newly-appointed T20I vice-captain Shubman Gill.

Aakash Chopra alleges management clueless over Sanju Samson

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra berated the Indian team management and questioned them for their alleged mishandling of explosive wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson. Chopra also acknowledged Samson’s impressive fifty against Oman, and match-winning cameos against Pakistan and Sri Lanka; all during the recently-concluded T20 Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE.

Perplexed with Sanju Samson getting ousted from the playing XI in favour of Jitesh Sharma in the last two games against Australia, the former Indian cricketer said:

“The biggest question is, what are we doing with Sanju Samson? He has done reasonably well, scoring a fifty against Oman and performing decently in the Asia Cup final. Yet, he keeps getting moved around and dropped. The management said they know what they are doing with him, and we respected that — but now this situation makes no sense.”

Sanju Samson, who opened the innings for India in T20Is up until less than a year ago, juggled around the middle order during the entirety of the 2025 Asia Cup. He also failed to get a bat in the rain-curtailed first T20I against Australia in Canberra, and scored just two while batting at number three at the MCG last week.

As of now, it remains to be seen if Sanju Samson will make a cut into the playing XI in the upcoming series-deciding fifth T20I against Australia in Brisbane on November 8.