Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Sanju Samson shouldn’t replace Abhishek Sharma in India’s playing XI for their T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eight match against South Africa. He stated that X-factor players shouldn’t be dropped after a few failures as well. However, India will take on South Africa in their first Super Eight stage game in Ahmedabad on Sunday, February 22.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “No, don’t do that. You go through bad times. A guy gets out once or twice. He (Abhishek) got out for zero twice even in the New Zealand series, but he scored runs after that, and you don’t start dropping people just like that. Abhishek Sharma is an X-factor. He is this team’s very important player. When he starts playing, he will play incredibly well, there is no doubt about that. I don’t think we need to jump the gun yet.”
“It’s not like Sanju Samson is coming with such rocket form, seeing which you would say that there is a great injustice being done, or you get the confidence that he would hit Marco Jansen into the Sabarmati if he plays. He isn’t coming after scoring so many runs,” Chopra shared again.
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While saying that Abhishek Sharma must play and needs to score runs, Aakash Chopra also said that the left-handed opener and the other Indian batters have been tested against off-spin.
“I am not going to entertain that thought one bit. I am not thinking about it. I think Abhishek Sharma has to continue, and he must score runs also, although it’s true that we are struggling against off-spin. We have lost wickets there, whether it was against Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha or Aryan Dutt,” he said in the same video.
“We have been falling short against spin, especially off-spin, but Aiden Markram will come in the opposition. If you are going to get scared of Aiden Markram, and no disrespect, but Aiden Markram in the powerplay overs, even though India might have three left-handers, you need to take the attack to the opposition,” Chopra shared again.
