“They may send him at No.11 also” - Kris Srikkanth slams Indian team management for mistreating Sanju Samson

Former Indian opening batter and analyst Kris Srikkanth has slammed the Indian team management, including Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill, for dropping Sanju Samson to the middle-order, instead of continuing him in the top-order in the shortest format of the game.

Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth termed Samson as ‘unlucky’ and added that he was scoring centuries as an opener. He further joked that Samson is ready to bat even at No. 11 at some point of time in his career.

“The guy who's most unlucky is Sanju Samson. He was scoring centuries as an opener. But now they send him everywhere, from No. 3 to No. 8. If given an opportunity, they may send him at No. 11 also. A person like Sanju will naturally feel bad after doing so well at the top, but he has no option but to be tight-lipped and bat wherever the team asks him to,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

While Samson had an exceptional record as an opener, he was demoted to the No.5 batting position, with Shubman Gill being elevated as the new T20I vice-captain ahead of the Asia Cup 2025 campaign.

“The only good thing is he did well at No. 5 in the Asia Cup. It's a good sign because Sanju is now the automatic choice as the first wicketkeeper for the T20 World Cup,” he added.

Furthermore, the team that played the first T20I would be more or less the same team that would play the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 with the all-rounder Hardik Pandya replacing Harshit Rana in the playing XI.

“The team is almost set. Now it's just about getting match practice and rhythm before the World Cup,” Srikkanth concluded.

India’s T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

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