Some of the Gautam Gambhir's decisions have been questioned again and again which many cricket experts think offer no benefit to Team India. Specifically, the appointment of Shubman Gill at the top of the batting order and the continued snubbing of Sanju Samson have been highlighted as particularly 'painful' choices by several of these former players including Subramanium Badrinath. Meanwhile, the Indian team, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, has been enjoying an impressive unbeaten run in T20I series since their victory at the ICC T20 World Cup. They are focused on maintaining this momentum and achieving similar success in the 2026 T20 World Cup, with only eight matches remaining before the start of that major tournament. However, they suffered a 51-run defeat against South Africa in the second T20I
A group of former Indian cricketers has united to criticise Gambhir for a series of controversial decisions.
S Badrinath isn't happy with Sanju Samson's continuous snub
Indian Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill made his return to the T20I setup ahead of the Asia Cup. Since his comeback, he has received unwavering support from head coach Gautam Gambhir, who even named him the vice-captain, publicly touting him as India's next T20I leader. However, the decision to back Gill heavily has come under intense scrutiny, particularly following the recent series against South Africa.
In the second match of the series, which India lost, opener Shubman Gill once again failed to contribute, being dismissed for a golden duck. Since his return to the format, Gill's average has remained significantly low, and his consistent lack of performance in the shortest format of the game has been a key factor fueling the criticism directed at the team management.
“Sanju Samson has scored three hundreds. We are talking about T20 cricket, and he has three hundreds. What more do you want as a player? It is a little painful to see a player who has performed so well warming the bench,” Badrinath said during his commentary duty on Star Sports Tamil.
ALSO READ: Vaibhav Suryavanshi continues blistering form, smashes 56-ball century against UAE in U-19 Asia Cup
Badrinath questions Shubman Gill's T20I credibility
In stark contrast to Gill's recent struggles, Samson, who was notably demoted to the middle order following Gill's return, had an outstanding calendar year in 2024, scoring three centuries as an opener for India in T20 Internationals. This situation has led to strong condemnation from former CSK player Badrinath. Badrinath publicly slammed head coach Gautam Gambhir for benching a consistently performing cricketer like Samson while simultaneously prioritizing an out-of-touch Shubman Gill in the T20I setup.
“He is the vice-captain of the team. I think only a player who is a certainty in the XI can be captain or vice-captain. He has been made vice-captain with these numbers. I can understand if there are no back-ups, but India has no dearth of talent in T20s,” he added.
It will be interesting to see whether Samson gets a chance in the third T20I on December 14 or ends up warming the bench one more time.