Gambhir says he has ‘clarity’ on Samson’s omission

India head coach Gautam Gambhir said that Sanju Samson has the clarity he needs after the wicketkeeper-batter was dropped from the playing XI and then from the squad that will tour Zimbabwe for three T20Is. Samson was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup in March with scores of 97 not out, 89 and 89 in the last three games. He also hit two centuries in the IPL but was dropped for the 15-year-old prodigy Vaibjhav Sooryavanshi after scores of 5, 0 and 1 on tours of Ireland and England. Samson is still in the squad in England where India trail 2-0 but he has been completely left out of the squad for the Zimbabwe T20Is later this month.

“The clarity that should have been given to Sanju Samson, he has got from me,” Gambhir said after the third T20I at Trent Bridge. “And that talk is between a head coach and a player. We will, of course, not tell you about that conversation contents.When it comes to clarity, we are very clear that Sanju… what he has done for India in the World Cup has been phenomenal and you sometimes just have to look at form as well of a certain player. And there is no hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series.

"More importantly, international cricket is about results at the end of the day. "We play that combination, we play that XI which we feel is the best combination to give us the results. That’s what I’ve always believed, that everybody has to earn their place. “Everyone has to earn the right to represent India.

Selectors and the team management have been under pressure after dropping Suryakumar Yadav, the captain, and the Player of the Tournament from that World Cup-winning squad. They have also lost four consecutive games since the World Cup, including a 2-0 clean sweep to Ireland, a team they had never lost an international game to before.

“We need to improve our awareness in terms of the game and adapt to the conditions better. But the results are also a reflection of the time that the side needs because we are hitting the reset button after a dominant run,” said Gambhir. India were unbeaten in 16 straight series or tournaments, including the first successful defence of a T20 World Cup by any team, before the losses in Ireland and England.

“Conditions matter a little but if you see there are changes in T20 side,” Gambhir said. “Sometimes when you go to reset a side you get such performances. There has been a lot of change from the XI that played the T20 World Cup final to now. Whether it be the captain, whether it be the opening batsman. Hardik Pandya is not there Jasprit Bumrah is not there.

'It takes a little bit of time when you go for that reset. You see, there's a 15-year-old opening, Prince Yadav is playing only his second T20I, Harshit Rana is coming back from injury. "We look at results at the end of the day and no doubt results are important in international cricket but we have to be practical as well. You sometimes give guys time to develop. “England are a good team. You put players in against teams like that, you have to give them time to grow. “Because after a reset, it takes time.”

But Gambhir did emphasise on the need to adapt to conditions and read situations better. ""I think it is important to assess the conditions, no doubt about that," Gambhir said. "But it is also important [to know] how to read the game. That is important too… sometimes it's a small thing, but breeze can play a big part as well. Sometimes, it is one side where the dimensions are much larger than the other side… that is important as well. So these little things in a T20 game can make a big difference.

"And sometimes what happens is when the whole batting lineup starts playing high risk, high reward, sometimes these things can happen. Probably the middle order, the guys who have enough experience playing international cricket, need to adapt and probably play according to the situation too.

“We did that in the World Cup as well. Our top three were firing and we wanted to play that high risk, high reward, but then we had [Nos.] 4 or 5 who were still able to build the innings and probably anchor the innings as well, and that is something that we lacked today.