You couldn’t have gained anything from this

Former India player Aakash Chopra has criticized the team management’s treatment of Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Suryavanshi in the T20I series against England. He opined that Suryavanshi should have been persisted with in the final T20I as the visitors couldn’t have gained anything from the game, considering it was a dead rubber.

England beat India by 56 runs in the final T20I in Southampton on Saturday, July 11, to win the series 4-0. Samson, who replaced Suryavanshi in the playing XI, scored 27 runs off 14 balls, as Shreyas Iyer and company managed 201/8 while chasing a 258-run target.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India batter opined that Samson and Suryavanshi weren’t handled properly, highlighting that the latter should have played the last T20I.

“Transition is difficult, but is the selection process right? What we did with Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Sanju Samson is a problem because we haven’t benefited anyone. We gave Vaibhav Suryavanshi three consecutive chances for sure, he couldn’t cross 15 runs in any of those and got out against short balls many times, but we gave only three chances,” Chopra said.

“You can’t decide in three, whether it’s a 15-year-old kid or a 25-year-old. When it’s a dead rubber and you have already lost the series, you couldn’t have gained anything from this. The only thing you could have gained was Vaibhav probably scoring runs. So you could have played Vaibhav here so that he could have scored runs and ended the England tour well,” he added.

Aakash Chopra noted that Vaibhav Suryavanshi should have been told that he would be backed even if he didn’t score runs in the final T20I. He added that the selection policy left a lot to be desired.

“What exactly are we doing?” – Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson’s handling in ENG vs IND 2026 T20Is

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that while Vaibhav Suryavanshi still got to play three consecutive games, Sanju Samson was fielded in the first and last matches.

“Vaibhav still got three consecutive matches, but the other was played the first and last match, and he isn’t being sent on the Zimbabwe tour. What exactly are we doing? We are saying that there are a few changes due to transition, but can that change not be managed better?” he said.

While pointing out that Samson was dropped after just three failures, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter might be wondering why he was left out and then recalled for a dead rubber.

“Sanju Samson might be wondering what he is doing. Of course, he got out in Ireland, two knocks can go bad for anyone, but after that, he got out in one match, which got abandoned, then he was made to sit out in three matches, and then when he was brought back, we had already lost the series. It was a dead rubber,” Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Sanju Samson would have suddenly realized that he needed to score runs in the final T20I against England to remain relevant. He added that the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2026 couldn’t have dominated or imposed himself in such a scenario.