Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has said the decision to drop Sanju Samson from India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe wrong. He also questioned whether Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s consistent performances are sure. Notably, Samson has been ignored for the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe to be played in Harare later this month. Ishan Kishan and Prabhsimran Singh have been picked as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Honestly, it’s wrong. When we played the first T20I, I also believed you wouldn’t be able to make Vaibhav sit out since you had lost the series to Ireland, but you would have to make a rotation policy to give him a chance. You don’t make the other guy disappear to make a place for someone. He (Samson) is the guy who won you the World Cup. It’s not somebody who is a non-performer. Three innings went bad, and you forgot everything. That worries me a little. It saddens my heart a little because what’s the guarantee that Vaibhav Suryavanshi would keep doing well?”

“If he (Suryavanshi) doesn’t do well, you have gone towards Prabhsimran Singh, but is that a long-term plan because Sanju is not 35 or 38 years old? Sanju is still a young man. Who gets old at 30 or 31 years? His career has been slightly inconsistent for sure, and you need to take tough decisions at times, but you dropped Sanju from the team itself,” he shared again.

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However, Aakash Chopra also stated that India have picked a strong batting lineup for the T20I series against Zimbabwe and wondered whether Sanju Samson doesn’t merit a place in that as well.

“We are going with full-strength batting. It’s not like we are resting any of the batters. The batting list is exactly what it should be. This is the batting that came after winning the World Cup, barring Vaibhav, of course. If you are taking your full batting, is there actually no place for Sanju Samson in that?” he said.

“I am shocked. How would you communicate this decision that it took us three matches to figure out that you are not good enough? I felt there was no need to move away from Sanju. You could have had a rotation policy. If you had asked me, I would have said rest Abhishek,” Aakash Chopra concluded.