Top News

‘He has had four chances in this series…I can accept failure in one or two matches, but not in three or four’: Yuzvendra Chahal on Sanju Samson

Samira Vishwas | January 30, 2026 4:24 PM CST

The musical chairs at the top order in the Indian side does seem to have one more round left, given how events have unfolded since the start of the New Zealand T20I series. After dropping Shubman Gill and putting all the eggs in Sanju Samson’s basket, the team has found itself in a muddle with the failures of the latter. In four games, Samson scored 40 runs in the series at an average of 10. In addition to his drop in form, Ishan Kishan, who has come into the side, has played a couple of blistering innings in the series, scoring 112 runs at a strike rate of 224.

Indian player Yuzvendra Chahal opined that pressure should not be an excuse for Samson, and the leg-spinner said Samson will be aware Kishan is knocking at the door. “Sanju Samson has played for many years. He started in the IPL middle-order, then became an opener. After playing international cricket for 10-12 years, pressure shouldn’t be an excuse. He has had four chances in this series. I can accept failure in one or two matches, but not in three or four. He knows someone like Ishan Kishan, who is the backup and is batting well at number three, is waiting. Sanju will blame himself. He had four opportunities but could not make them count,” Chahal said on Jio Star

“However, there’s no need to feel too bad because the T20 World Cup is still far. There’s one more match against New Zealand. It now depends on the team management’s thinking. If they feel Sanju is struggling as an opener and Ishan is doing well at number three, then the right call would be to make Sanju sit out and let Ishan Kishan take his spot as the opener and wicketkeeper in the final T20I,” Chahal added.

In 56 T20I, Samson has scored 1072 runs at an average of 24.36 and strike rate 147.86 with three centuries and three half-centuries next to his name.