Gambhir calls Samson’s England omission his toughest coaching decision: ‘Because of the way he…’

Gautam Gambhir has revealed the toughest decision he has taken as a head coach. The India cricket manager has described the decision to drop Sanju Samson for the T20I series in England as “probably the toughest” of his coaching tenure.

Gambhir calls Samson’s England omission his toughest coaching decision: ‘Because of the way he…’

Speaking after India’s 3-0 series whitewash of Afghanistan, Gambhir said the call was particularly difficult given Samson’s strong form leading into that tour and his status as Player of the Tournament in India’s T20 World Cup triumph. He told the reporters:

“It was tough, probably the toughest decision I’ve taken in my coaching tenure, leaving him out in that England series because of the way he performed before that.”

The coach explained that the team management chose to reinstate the World Cup-winning opening combination of Samson and Abhishek Sharma for the Afghanistan series.

“I wanted to go back to the combination we had during the World Cup, because those guys after three or four failures don’t become bad players.”

The pair responded strongly, with Samson scoring 117 runs across the three matches, including two half-centuries. Samson entered the series after briefly losing his spot to teenage Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He only played in four games in the tour to Ireland and England. He was also snubbed for the tour to Zimbabwe, where the teenage star went on to become the highest run-scorer.

Samson returned at the top of the order with Abhishek Sharma as he returned vs Afghanistan, while Sooryavanshi was left on the bench. India went on to win the series 3-0. The comments come amid ongoing debate over India’s T20I batting order and the balance between proven performers and emerging talent.

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