Gautam Gambhir and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi© AFP and Getty

Team India's batting is under extreme scrutiny after yet another poor showing led to their fifth defeat in a row in a full T20I. In the fourth T20I against England, India managed just 158 in 20 overs, with no batter apart from captain Shreyas Iyer managing to score even 25 runs. Question marks over the Gautam Gambhir-led Indian team management's decision to drop Sanju Samson have been raised once again. Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel questioned whether the team had made an "emotional" call in leaving out Samson for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Samson was the 'Player of the Tournament' in India's victorious T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, but was dropped from the playing XI after only three games in the ongoing tour of Ireland and England, making way for Sooryavanshi.

However, while Samson managed scores of 5, 0 and 1 in his three matches, Sooryavanshi hasn't fared much better, making 14, 13 and 15 in his first three senior games for India.

Parthiv questioned the logic behind leaving Samson out of the playing XI.

"Why is it always Sanju Samson who misses out? If you look at Sanju Samson's career over the last 11-12 years, the one question that has always followed him is consistency. Either the player who isn't scoring quickly enough gets left out, or the one who has been inconsistent," Parthiv said, speaking on JioHotstar.

"You can't make decisions based on both emotion and logic. So emotionally, yes, it was the right call to give Vaibhav Sooryavanshi a chance. But if you go purely by logic, then why has Sanju Samson been left out? So, I think this decision was taken emotionally," he added.

India have now lost two consecutive T20I series for the first time under head coach Gautam Gambhir. With a single match remaining in the England series, it will be interesting to see whether Samson is given another shot.

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