Sanju Samson’s poor form continued, and he did not have the best of homecomings in the fifth and final T20I game against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram. Samson only managed a thick outside edge down to the deep third fielder as he attempted to hit a six across the line, falling for just the score of six runs. The wicket-keeper batter has had a tough time in the five T20I games in 2026.
Sanju Samson scored just 46 runs in 5 innings. He continued showing his weak batting approach. This has been one of the poorest forms of the batter who went past his own unwanted record for India exactly 12 months ago, when the repeated short-ball plan proved to be his unsuccessful record against England in five games, where he managed only 51 runs.
‘I think now this is twice in about 12 months’- Aakash Chopra
Former India opener Aakash Chopra slammed Sanju Samson’s poor batting display right ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. He also shed light on the same kind of dismissal pattern for the batter, which is very unusual at the international level.
Chopra said in a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, “I think now this is twice in about 12 months. It all started with that England series. Very rarely do you find a top-class batter developing a pattern, especially in the shortest format of the game. He got dismissed five times in the same fashion – short ball caught in the deep. Here also, if you see his dismissals versus pace, there is an eerie pattern to it.”
“You go deep inside the crease even before the ball is bowled. You try to play the ball, but the front foot doesn’t go anywhere. As a result, your bat actually closes every single time you play. He got lucky with an outside edge once in Thiruvananthapuram. In the previous game again, he closed the bat a bit too early, so again a pattern has developed.”
Sanju Samson to lose his place
Sanju Samson finds himself in a really difficult position. As the keeper-batter might lose his place once again from the Indian team after his poor display. Ishan Kishan, who carried his amazing domestic form to international cricket, scored 215 runs in the series against New Zealand. The latter was the second-highest run scorer in the series after captain Suryakumar Yadav.
Kishan, who is also a wicket-keeper and can open the innings as well, was seen doing the glovework in the final T20I game on Saturday. This clearly indicated that India might go with the southpaw over Sanju Samson. With less than a week left for the T20 World Cup to start, this might be an alarming bell for Samson.
Also Read: Sanju Samson dropped as India’s playing XI for T20 World Cup 2026, announced by BCCI selector
India to go three left-handers at the top
As things stand, Ishan Kishan is the favourite to open alongside Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma, who is expected to be fit and join the side ahead of the major event, and might bat at No.3 for India. So all three of them will be left-handers in the top 3 for the Men in Blue.
We need to wait and watch for the combination India goes with in the first game against the USA.
