Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes Sanju Samson has been doing enough to keep young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi on the bench as well. He shared his thoughts after India’s third T20I against the West Indies, played in Indore on Sunday, October 11. Asked to bat first, India were bowled out for 223 in 20 overs, with Abhishek Sharma top-scoring with 69 off 30 balls, while Samson scored only three off six deliveries. In reply, the West Indies finished at 209/7, falling short by 14 runs as well.
Speaking during a discussion on his YouTube channel (Ash ki Baat), Ashwin said: “I just feel Sanju is doing enough at the moment to keep Vaibhav out of the team. Unfortunately, Vaibhav should be given an opportunity. But what can we do? Such things happen in life. This battle between the two is going on because the Indian team management and everyone know that Abhishek Sharma cannot be touched. Abhishek Sharma is an exceptional player. If his bat gets going, he always wins matches for India.”
“He is a fabulous player. He will keep learning little by little. And what I am seeing as a big positive is that he has been scoring runs on difficult wickets over the last two or three months. This tells me that his graph is moving upwards. He is not stagnating, nor is he going down. So, Abhishek Sharma is a fabulous player, and I have a lot of time for him. I always enjoy watching him play because of his style, grace, and timing. He makes it look so easy,” he further added.
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In the same discussion, Ravichandran Ashwin also opened up on Abhishek Sharma’s adaptability in recent times, be it in the Asian Games 2026 or the Indore game, where he batted brilliantly despite the pitch not being easy.
“Abhishek Sharma has shown me a lot of things over the last two months that demonstrate his adaptability. Even in Japan, the wicket was not that easy, but he batted really well. The same was true here in Indore. The wicket was not particularly easy, but he batted well,” he concluded.
