Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir’s former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) colleague, has criticised Gambhir and the management for benching Sanju Samson in favour of Shubman Gill.
Samson has not played for the T20I XI since the second T20I of the series against Australia.
Uthappa stated that he does not understand why Samson was withdrawn from the opening post in the first place. The cricketer-turned-commentator hailed Samson’s outstanding runs as an opener.
“I beg the question: what did the partnership of Abhishek and Samson do so grossly wrong that it had to be replaced? I understand Surya in the pre-series conference where he said Shubman has actually been in the T20I squad before Sanju got his chance. But when Sanju did get his opportunity, he got three tons. He was the first guy among the youngsters to get hundreds in T20 cricket,” shared Uthappa while speaking on Star Sports.
Uthappa also openly questioned the management, asking what wrong did Samson do to be removed from the system completely. He also opined that the wicketkeeper-batter deserved a longer run.
“So, you have a proven opener, who’s averaging just below Abhishek Sharma at this point, and you decided to move him to the middle order and then slowly leave him out. What wrong has he done is my question. He deserves to have that opportunity,” he added.
Gill, who had to skip the second Test as well as the ODI series due to a nerve-related neck issue, came right back into the T20I XI on recovering. However, the returns have been negligible. Gill’s scores in the first two T20Is up until now read 4 off 2 and a golden duck in Cuttack and Mullanpur, respectively.
There have been a lot of questions on the Indian T20I squad’s vice-captain so far. India and Gill will hope that he regains form in the remainder of the series. The third match is slated to be held at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on December 14.
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