India head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed that dropping Sanju Samson to make room for teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi during the T20I series in England was the toughest selection call of his coaching career.
Gambhir said the decision kept him awake at night. He also spoke directly to Samson about the call and explained why the team management decided to make the change.
Samson had been the Player of the Tournament when India won the T20 World Cup earlier this year. However, after India’s defeat in the opening T20I against England in July, he was left out of the team for the remaining matches of the series.
Sooryavanshi replaced him and made his T20I debut in Manchester.
Samson later returned to the playing XI during India’s 3-0 T20I series win over Afghanistan. He made the most of the opportunity, scoring consecutive half-centuries.
“In two years of my journey, that was the only night I could not sleep and I told this to Sanju because I knew that it was probably the toughest decision in my coaching tenure in a T20 format because he was player of the tournament, and then you have to leave him out after three or four games. And the reason was probably that Vaibhav was in that kind of form as well, and we had to win the series.
“Because ultimately you are there and when you are playing for India, or when you are coaching India, you want to win each and every series possible. I had a very, very honest conversation with him and I told him that that is one of the reasons why, because Vaibhav was in that kind of form, and we needed someone to score runs at the top, we needed that little bit of a platform at the top as well. And he was fine with it. And that’s a conversation which me and Sanju had, and he took it in good spirits,” said Gambhir to JioStar ahead of the start of India’s home season via three ODIs and five T20Is against the West Indies.
Gambhir On Giving Young Players Their Chance
Gambhir also explained that talented youngsters cannot expect to walk straight into India’s playing XI, even when they are in good form.
He said experienced players who have performed consistently over a long period also deserve patience and backing.
“I know, it is (tough). But then, I made him understand that I know you’re in good form, but sometimes with the players who have done well for a long time, you will have to wait for your opportunity.
“There’s one more thing - social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing eleven. Playing eleven who, in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time because if Vaibhav plays today, then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or Sanju.
“So we can’t suddenly ignore that a combination that has created such an impact over the last one and a half or two years, that after three or four failures we drop them and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good form.
“So sometimes you will have to wait for your opportunity and we still want to create that security in that dressing room. Because it is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions and we’ve taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek,” he explained.
Gambhir Praises Shreyas Iyer’s Leadership Quality
Gambhir also had words of praise for T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, particularly highlighting his selfless approach as a leader.
The two worked together at Kolkata Knight Riders during their successful IPL 2024 campaign, with Gambhir serving as mentor and Iyer leading the team.
Gambhir recalled how Iyer was willing to move away from his usual No. 4 position if it helped the team.
“Look, my first experience with Shreyas was when I actually went to KKR in 2024. Obviously, he was captaining there and the best thing I liked about Shreyas was that he was actually, at times, willing to leave his position as well at number four.
“He was so flexible that he was okay if someone goes ahead of him and it happens very rarely that a captain, who is probably your main batter as well, sacrifices his position for the team’s cause, whether for someone else for impact or from a left-hand, right-hand combination point of view, he is willing to sacrifice his position.
“That is when I realised that the first and foremost quality of a good leader - I’m not going to talk about captaincy - is how selfless you are and Shreyas has that quality. That probably was the massive tick that Shreyas can carry for the rest of his journey as a captain.
“Because you can be hardworking, you can be disciplined, you can be fit, you can be the number one batter. But if you are not selfless, then all those other things stand for nothing. But Shreyas, I think he’s got all the other things, and on top of that, he’s got that selflessness as well,” he added.
Gambhir Calls For Patience With T20I Team
Gambhir also stressed the need to give India’s T20I team enough time to build consistency instead of making major changes after a few poor performances.
He pointed to India’s recent success and said a short run of bad results should not erase what the team has achieved over the last two years.
“For two years, imagine, you imagine we won the World Cup - which team in the history of sport has gone undefeated from one World Cup to the other and gone on to win the World Cup?
“It didn’t take these guys 17 years to win the second World Cup. It took these guys only 17 months to win the third World Cup. Suddenly, one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad side. So it was very important for us to have that continuity.”