vaibhav sooryavanshi, gautam gambhir, sanju samson
Samson came back into the side at Sooryavanshi’s expense and went on to hit back-to-back fifties as India completed a 3-0 series sweep. “Because ultimately you are there and when you are playing for India, or when you are coaching India, you want to win each and every series possible. Because vaibhav was in that kind of form, and we needed someone to score runs at the top, we needed that little bit of a platform at the top as well, i had a very, very honest conversation with him and I told him that that is one of the reasons why,.
India had lost that opening T20I, with teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi coming into the XI for his T20I debut in Manchester.
And that’s a conversation which me and Sanju had, and he took it in good spirits,” said Gambhir. And he was fine with it. The call was eventually reversed when India returned home for their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.
Samson, who was named Player of the Tournament during India’s T20 World Cup triumph earlier this year, was left out after the first match of the five-game series in England in July.
“It didn’t take these guys 17 years to win the second World Cup. It took these guys only 17 months to win the third World Cup. Because samson had played such an important role in India’s World Cup success, gambhir said the decision weighed heavily on him, particularly. Because i knew that it was probably the toughest decision in my coaching tenure in a T20 format because someone who was player of the tournament, and then you have to leave him out after three or four games, “In two years of my journey, that was the only night I could not sleep and I told this to Sanju. Because if Vaibhav plays today, then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or Sanju, playing eleven who, in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time.
Speaking to JioStar ahead of India’s home season against the West Indies, the India coach revealed just how difficult the call was. “There’s one more thing – social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing eleven. For the India coach, maintaining continuity remains particularly important given the team’s recent success. Gambhir pointed to the short turnaround between India’s World Cup triumphs while arguing against overreacting to isolated setbacks. Suddenly one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad side. So it was very important for us to have that continuity.”