Sanju Samson has got the clarity that he needed from my end and there’s no rule that says he can’t play in the remaining two T20I matches against England, India head coach Gautam Gambhir said on Tuesday
The India opener was dropped from the playing XI to accommodate the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and was subsequently omitted from the T20I squad that will travel to Zimbabwe later this month for a three-match series.
“The clarity that Sanju Samson needed, he has got it from my side. That conversation will remain only between a coach and a player,” Gambhir said after India’s mammoth 125-run loss in the third T20I at Trent Bridge.
“As far as clarity is concerned, we are absolutely clear that what he has done for India in the World Cup has been phenomenal. Sometimes you just have to look at the form as well of a certain player. There’s no hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series,” coach added.
India is yet to win a game on this tour that began with a 0-2 historic series loss against Ireland followed by two losses in England. The first T20I was abandoned after first innings due to rain.
Gambhir, however, said that the T20I team is in a reset mode with fresh faces and a couple of big names like Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah missing from the squad that won the T20 World Cup title in March.
“Such performances happen when you are trying to reset the team. There have been plenty of changes in the playing XI that played in the World Cup final and today, be it the captain, or the opening batter. There’s no Hardik Pandya, or Jasprit Bumrah as well. So reset takes time,” Gambhir explained.
“You have a 15-year-old opening, you have Prince Yadav who is playing his 2nd T20I, and Harshit Rana has comeback from an injury,” he added.
With only two more matches left, India can only level the five-match series. But Gambhir was quick to brush away any doubts on the quality of the side while accepting that India failed to read and play the conditions well.
“I think we just haven’t played well, as simple as it can get. You don’t become a bad team after four games. So, you don’t become a bad team if the opposition plays better than you,” he said.
“When you don’t assess the conditions better, you don’t read the conditions better; game reading is equally important as well. So, we haven’t done that since Ireland. These are the results to see.”
India was bowled out for mere 76 — it’s second-lowest total in the format — while chasing a 202-run target. The 125-run loss was India’s worse by runs in T20Is. But Gambhir reiterated that India would continue to play its aggressive style of cricket that has given it success earlier.
“I thought that today was probably one of the off days, because if you see the last two T20s, we got 180 on the board. So sometimes when you play a high-risk, high-reward game, these things can happen. You can get bundled out for such scores. It has made us successful, and we will try and continue to play the same way.”
Published on Jul 08, 2026
