Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has raised concerns regarding Sanju Samson’s place in the Indian team after the Men in Blue were stunned 2-0 by Ireland. After losing the opening game by 34 runs on Friday, India suffered a one-run loss in the second T20I on Sunday.
Chopra highlighted that after a disappointing result, Samson is mostly made the scapegoat. Samson could only manage five runs in the opening game of the series whereas the Indian opener was dismissed on a golden duck when he was plumbed in front of the wickets by Jai Moondra.
“Sanju got out on the first ball. Now I am getting a little worried about Sanju because he is the first player on whom the wrath falls. If someone has to go out, the first man on the chopping block is Sanju. So I was secretly hoping he would score runs, and definitely in the second match once he got out in the first,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
The renowned commentator highlighted that Abhishek Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan also got out cheaply in the run chase of 155.
“Jai Moondra actually bowls well. Abhishek Sharma got out on zero, Ishan Kishan got run out, and in the last two or three matches, whether you see the ODI series or here, Shreyas Iyer has not been scoring runs, and he is getting out the same way,” he elaborated.
After losing early wickets, India decided to promote Axar Patel in the batting order but the ploy didn’t work.
“Then you realize you are down in the dumps. Suddenly, you sent Axar Patel up the order, moved Shivam Dube down, had expectations from Suryansh Shedge, and you lost the game. You say how did that happen,” he observed.
The former Delhi cricketer noted that India lost two matches against a team, against which they shouldn’t have lost even one.
“We might say that we lost by just one run because Harshit Rana hit fours and sixes and made the match thrilling, and Prince Yadav hit a six off the last ball. Forget about the one run. The fact is that you have lost two matches to a team you shouldn’t have lost to even one,” he said.
The former right-hander believes in-form Vaibhav Sooryavanshi might make his debut in the England series.
“This will come in the trivia 20 years from now as to when India were clean swept against Ireland, and you would say it happened in 2026. It seems like Vaibhav Suryavanshi is inching closer to his international debut now because changes will have to be made if the batting performance is like this,” Chopra observed.
India will play the first T20I against England on Wednesday.
