ENG vs IND 2026: ‘No hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback’ – Gautam Gambhir on Sanju Samson

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has backed Sanju Samson after his omission from the Playing XI during the England T20I series and subsequent exclusion from the squad for the T20I series in Zimbabwe later this month.

Samson’s place has been in contention after his poor start to the series in Ireland and England, with the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi waiting in the wings. Three low scores saw him lose his place to the prodigious Sooryavanshi, who featured in the second and third T20Is. Gambhir stated that there exists the provision for Samson to make a return to the playing XI with two more games to go.

“As far as clarity is concerned, we are absolutely clear that Sanju, what he has done for India, during the World Cup has been phenomenal. And sometimes you just have to look at the form as well of a certain player. And there is no such thing that there is any hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series. And more importantly, ultimately the international cricket is about results. So whatever we feel is the best combination to give us the results, we play that combination, we play that playing XI. And that is what I have always been a big believer that everyone needs to earn their place,” Gambhir said in the press conference after the third T20I, as quoted by Cricbuzz. 

Samson was the Player of the Tournament in India’s T20 World Cup win. He scored 321 runs in five innings, the most runs scored by an Indian batter in a single edition of the tournament. He averaged 80.25 and struck at 199.37 throughout the tournament, scoring an unbeaten 97 in the final game in the Super 8s against the West Indies to take India to the semifinals. His twin scores of 89 in the semifinal against England and the final against New Zealand built the platform for 250-plus totals in both innings.

‘Experienced guys need to adapt’ – Gambhir

India were beaten by 125 runs in the third T20 at Trent Bridge, their largest-ever defeat by a margin of runs in T20Is. They were bowled out for 76 chasing 202, losing five wickets in the powerplay. The tourists have played an ultra-aggressive brand of cricket but that hasn’t been fruitful for them. Gambhir stated that small factors make the difference in T20Is, and added that the experienced heads in the middle order need to adapt better to the match situations.

“Because sometimes, it’s a small thing, but breeze can play a huge part as well.Sometimes, one side, where the dimensions are much bigger than the other side, that is important as well. So these small, small things in a T20 game can make a huge difference. And sometimes what happens is when everyone in the batting line-up starts playing high risk, high reward, sometimes these things can happen. So probably, in the middle-order, the experienced guys who’ve played enough international cricket need to adapt and probably play according to the situation as well,” Gambhir said.

“We did that during the World Cup as well. Our top three was firing and we wanted to get that high risk, high reward, but then we had 4 or 5 who were still able to build the innings and probably anchor it as well.That is something that we’ve lacked today and that’s why we got the result. Again, I think it boils down to probably reading the game situation. I think that is something that we’ve lacked today,” he added.

India play England in the fourth T20I on Thursday, July 9, in Bristol. They are down 0-2 in the series, and need to win the next game to stay afloat.