Former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta has backed Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as India’s opening pair for the Afghanistan T20I series, starting September 13 as well. The remaining two matches of the three-match series
will take place on September 15 and 17, taking place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Speaking during a discussion on his YouTube channel (Deep Dasgupta), he said: “Straight away, if you think about the last match (England T20Is), it was Sanju and Abhishek. Leave Zimbabwe aside. When all three were available, Sanju and Abhishek were there. I think we haven’t seen the Sanju-Vaibhav combination yet. So far, we’ve seen Abhishek-Vaibhav and Abhishek-Sanju, right? It’s not a bad idea to even try and see what kind of combination Sanju and Vaibhav can make,” he added.

READ HERE: Shubman Gill Breaks Silence On ODI Futures Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli

“Again, I’m not saying, please don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about dropping anyone here. I’m just saying, reiterating again, that the idea is that before the World Cup, you want to give every combination and every individual a proper chance and proper game time to understand what works,” he again shared.

However, Deep Dasgupta shared that over the next six to eight months, nobody should be considered permanently back or out of India’s T20I team as well. He also explained that some players will return while others will be left out as well.

“And that’s why I’m saying that when it comes to T20 cricket, I was reading some articles where I saw people saying, ‘You know, this guy is back and this guy is back again.’ But in T20 cricket, over the next six to eight months, nobody is back and nobody is sacked. According to me, there are 20-25 players who will play in rotation. Some will be back, while some will be left out. But the idea is that two to three months before a tournament, like the World Cup, you get a proper team. Right?” he further added.

“All I’m saying is that you decide. If I were with that team at this point, I would think about how many matches I have over the next year. And, broadly speaking, I would try to give everyone the same number of games as much as possible. Every combination should get the same number of games,” Deep Dasgupta concluded.