You solely instructed us that he can bat down the order

Former India player Aakash Chopra has questioned the decision to drop Sanju Samson in the third T20I against Australia. He highlighted that the team management had themselves said that the wicketkeeper-batter is capable of batting in the middle order.

India will face Australia in the fourth T20I of the five-match series in Gold Coast on Thursday, November 6. Although Samson was part of the playing XI in the first two T20Is, Jitesh Sharma replaced him in the visitors’ five-wicket win in the third game in Hobart on November 2.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India opener wondered why Samson was dropped from the XI in the third T20I when the team management believed he could succeed down the order.

“The biggest question that is looming large is – what have we decided about Sanju Samson? Sanju not playing is a big, big, big question as to why we are doing like that. We played Sanju and he had done decently as well. I won’t say he had done extraordinarily, but he was okay. You made him bat up the order against Oman and he scored a fifty,” Chopra said.

“You played him in the (Asia Cup) final and he scored a few runs. You only told us that he can bat down the order. We were saying you should make him open only, and if you are not doing that, play Jitesh. That was my original position, but you said you will be able to take care of Sanju Samson and will play him, and you know what you are doing. We respected that,” he added.

Sanju Samson has scored 995 runs at an average of 25.51 in 43 T20I innings. He has aggregated 169 runs at a slightly lower average of 21.13 in 10 T20I innings below No. 4.

“It’s not understandable what we are trying to do” – Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson’s handling ahead of AUS vs IND 2025 4th T20I

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that it’s not understandable why Sanju Samson was dropped after just one failure in the ongoing T20I series against Australia.

“You played him, the team won the Asia Cup, and we clapped. After that, his batting didn’t come in Canberra. Okay sir, no problems. You sent him at No. 3 in Melbourne. Surprise, but we say okay sir, but then you dropped him. Now I am unable to understand whether I should again say okay sir, because it’s not understandable what we are trying to do,” he said.

However, the cricketer-turned-commentator acknowledged that Samson shouldn’t replace Jitesh Sharma in the XI for the fourth T20I logically.

“So whether Sanju Samson will play or not is a big question, in my opinion. If Jitesh was played and he has performed decently as well, scored 20-odd runs, logic says you will stay with him, but whether you will, I don’t know sir. I don’t have the answer to that question,” Chopra observed.

Jitesh Sharma scored a crucial unbeaten 22 off 13 deliveries in the third T20I against Australia. He stitched an unbroken 43-run sixth-wicket partnership with Washington Sundar (49* off 23) to help India draw level in the series.