Sanju Samson’s last four T20I innings read 9, 7, 2 and 11. On Friday in Ranchi, India play the second match of their five-game series against West Indies, and the team management is weighing whether to keep him at the top of the order or bring in 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to open with Abhishek Sharma, according to PTI’s preview on Rediff.

India lead the series 1-0 after an eight-wicket win in Lucknow on Tuesday. They are unbeaten in ten T20Is. Samson is the one sore point in a batting order that has otherwise been working, and the question of who should open alongside Abhishek has now come up twice in a week.

The numbers behind the dilemma

PTI’s report lists Samson’s last four innings as 9, 7, 2 and 11. The partnerships he was part of in those four matches were worth 7, 12, 2 and 29. Two of them, the 12 and the 2, came for the second wicket with Sooryavanshi opening.

PTI also notes that India’s management accommodated Samson at No. 3 at the Asian Games in Japan, giving the opening slot to Sooryavanshi. The Economic Times, carrying the same PTI copy, calls the management’s support of Samson “evident”. The report adds that Samson has not yet answered it with matching scores, and that he “cannot hang on to his World Cup performances for an eternity”.

The World Cup reference is the other side of his case. His Wikipedia entry says he was part of the 2024 and 2026 T20 World Cup winning teams, including a Player of the Tournament performance in 2026. A few poor scores sit against that record.

What Gambhir said before the Lucknow game

Samson played the opener in Lucknow and Sooryavanshi did not. Head coach Gautam Gambhir explained the thinking in an interview with JioStar, reported by Rediff on Tuesday. He said he had told Sooryavanshi that “sometimes, because of the players who have done well for a long time, he will have to wait for his opportunity”.

Gambhir also said that social media and outside noise do not decide the playing eleven, and that dropping Abhishek or Samson after three or four failures would ignore a combination that has made a big impact over the last one-and-a-half or two years. If Sooryavanshi plays, he said, there would be a tough conversation with whoever is left out.

That is a clear statement of selection policy. It also explains why the PTI preview describes Friday as less about an immediate call and more about a question that “could grow louder as the series progresses”.

Why Sooryavanshi is not an automatic pick

Sooryavanshi was born on 27 March 2011. His T20I debut came against England in July 2026, and at 15 years and 99 days he is the youngest player to represent India, per Wikipedia. The international record is short.

• In the T20I series India lost 0-3 to England, he made 14, 13 and 15.
• PTI describes those as decent scores for a beginner, but says they show he cannot be rushed into top-level cricket because of the hype.
• Rediff’s Tuesday report says he made a strong impression at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where India won gold.

The two reports give different Asian Games scores for him (PTI has 18 and 35, Rediff’s earlier piece has 38 and 15), so this article does not quote either set. Both agree on the main point: he looked good, and he has not yet had a long run in the side.

The bowling is up for discussion too

Samson is not the only selection question. Mayank Yadav conceded 16 runs in the first over in Lucknow and was expensive through the middle and at the death, though he did take the wicket of Sherfane Rutherford, West Indies’ top scorer, in the penultimate over. PTI says India could bring in Nitish Kumar Reddy to share the new ball, although that experiment “did not work particularly well” in the preceding ODI series.

The spinners looked settled. Kuldeep Yadav joined Axar Patel in the eleven, and the two took two wickets each. Debutant Naman Dhir finished with 3 for 31 with his off-spin. Jasprit Bumrah is not in this side, a point PTI makes when it says West Indies would need a total in excess of 220 to put pressure on India.

The Lucknow template

West Indies were all out for 171 in 19.1 overs and India chased it in 14.4, finishing on 172 for 2. Shreyas Iyer made an unbeaten 102 off 43 balls, his maiden T20I century in his 68th match. We covered the innings in our report on Iyer’s hundred. Ishan Kishan was 37 not out off 27 at the other end, per SportsAdda’s Ranchi preview.

Iyer’s hundred came from the middle order, which is why Samson’s form has not hurt India yet. Ranchi will test that. If the top order falls early, the cover that Iyer and Kishan provided is no longer a given.

What Ranchi has offered T20 batters

SportsAdda’s numbers on the ground are short but useful. India have played four T20Is at the JSCA International Stadium Complex and won three. The highest total there is 196 for 6, made by India against Sri Lanka in February 2016. Only twice has a side gone past 160, and no team has chased more than 155 successfully.

The one Indian defeat came in January 2023, when New Zealand made 176 for 6 and won by 21 runs, with India held to 155 for 9. No men’s T20I has been played at the venue since. West Indies have lost their last six T20Is against India in India, and India lead the overall head-to-head 21-10, with one no result in 32 matches.

The ground’s record favours the side batting first, and that is a reason to think about the top of the order carefully. An opener who gets 25 quickly is worth more in Ranchi than at a high-scoring ground. Whether Samson or Sooryavanshi is better suited to that job is the debate in the dressing room.

What West Indies bring

The visitors have the batting to trouble India. PTI names Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Roston Chase and Romario Shepherd as firepower around captain Shai Hope, who made 52 off 37 balls in Lucknow, with Rutherford making 56 off 34, per SportsAdda. The bowling is the worry. Matthew Forde’s two overs cost 39, and PTI says the attack lacks bite apart from left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein.

The match starts at 7 pm IST and the BCCI match centre lists the fixture. After Ranchi the series goes to Indore on 11 October, Hyderabad on 14 October and Bengaluru on 17 October. For more of our India cricket coverage and the wider cricket archive, follow the category pages.

India’s next match after Ranchi is in Indore on Sunday, 11 October.

Sources: Economic Times (PTI), Rediff (PTI), Rediff, 6 October, SportsAdda, Wikipedia.

Featured image: Sanju Samson batting on nets. Photo: Rajasthan Royals / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0