The Indian team opted for Sanju Samson over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the first T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. replacing Sooryavanshi at the top of the order of Sanju Samson, who had made way for the 15-year-old in England in June.
has been in tremendous form in 2026 – first in the T20 World Cup 2026 at home and then for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where the Kerala batter scored two hundreds. However, a poor run in first four matches during India’s tour of Ireland and England saw him lose his place in the playing XI. stepped up.
The left-hander started on a slower side in England, before impressing everyone with a Player of the Series performance in Zimbabwe. Notably, Samson was omitted from the Zimbabwe series to accommodate Sooryavanshi. Since his omission in England, Samson didn’t play a game.
On the other hand, is coming into this series on the back of an impressive show or East Zone in his maiden Duleep Trophy campaign. In the semifinal against Central Zone, Sooryavanshi scored 92 and 40 before playing another knock of 44, thus contribution for his team en route to title.
Asked about his team combination during the coin toss, Indian captain Shreyas Iyer said, “That is more difficult, I feel, but I would say Vaibhav (Sooryavanshi) is not playing, then Washington (Sundar) is not playing and there are two more which you’ll get to know.”
While hasn’t done anything wrong to be left out, it is understood that Samson gets the nod because of seniority and experience. One can also put it in a way that Sooryavanshi has been given a bot of rest after 13 days of gruelling cricket in Duleep Trophy.
Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran(c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi
India: Sanju Samson (w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy
