What is going wrong for Sanju Samson ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026?
After clinching the T20I series, the Indian team finally lost a match in the ongoing 5-match T20I series against New Zealand. At Visakhapatnam, Mitchell Santner & Co. defeated India by 50 runs and registered their first victory in this series. Shivam Dube (65 off 23) was the sole warrior, but after his dismissal, the Indian team easily lost their remaining wickets.
During this match, the Indian team entered with one batter short. Ishan Kishan missed the match due to a niggle. Arshdeep Singh replaced him in the India playing XI. After winning the toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav invited New Zealand to bat first. New Zealand put up a mammoth total of 215 runs in 20 overs, although the Indian team was playing with 7 bowling options.
In response, the Indian team just managed to reach 165 runs. While chasing, no Indian batter contributed well, which caused India to lose the match. Abhishek Sharma got a golden duck for the second time in this series. Suryakumar Yadav entered at 3, but he went back to the pavilion after scoring 8 runs. Rinku Singh, while batting at 4, scored 39 runs. However, India's wicket-keeper opening batter, Sanju Samson, got started for the first time in this series, but he didn’t convert this into a big score. Sanju is constantly struggling in this series.
Sanju Samson’s struggles continue
Sanju got his first start in the series, but once again failed to convert his start into a big cricket score. He was bowled by Mitchell Santner, leaving Team India in a precarious position. He scored just 24 runs in 15 balls, including 3 fours and 1 six. Sanju has been a massive flop in this ongoing series so far, leading to speculation that he might be dropped from the team.
So far, in this series, he scored 40 runs in 4 games, at an average of 10. His cricket scores were 6, 10, 0, and 24. According to some reports, Sanju may get one last chance in the fifth T20I, but he could be dropped from the playing XI in India's first match of the World Cup. Tilak Verma will join Team India on February 3, and after his arrival, the management will have to choose between Sanju and Ishan. Considering Ishan's excellent form, he may get preference over Sanju in the World Cup.
At one point, Sanju did really well for India in T20Is. He smashed 3 centuries. At that moment, he was considering a confirmed opener in the shortest format. But, after this, he failed against England as an opener. He scored 51 runs in 5 innings. After this, management considered Shubman Gill as an opener, and Sanju’s batting order was changed. His batting order was constantly changing during the Asia Cup 2025, the Australia series, and the South Africa series, too. But Sanju failed in the middle order. He even dropped from the playing XI. But, on the other hand, Shubman Gill also flopped badly as an opener in T20Is, due to which he was dropped from the India squad for the World Cup and the ongoing India vs New Zealand T20I series as well. Following this, Sanju got back his opening spot. Everyone was feeling that now Sanju Samson would showcase his class and confirm his opening position for the World Cup. But he is failing again and again.
The upcoming 5th T20I might be the last chance for him. If he flops once again, then he is almost certain to be benched, but even if he is successful in scoring runs in the next cricket match, there is no guarantee that he will get a place in the first match of the World Cup. He will have to play an outstanding innings to save his place in the playing XI.
