India have bagged the series by winning the first two T20 matches of the current tour of Sri Lanka. But despite this massive win, captain Suryakumar Yadav and coach Gautam Gambhir have been criticized in cricket circles. In the first match, Sanju Samson was dropped and replaced by young Ryan Parag. Even in the second match, Gill was unable to play due to neck pain and Sanju got a chance in the XI instead. Gambhir faced backlash from his fans for such a decision. Because he was the one commenting a few months ago that "Samson is unstoppable in India's playing XI".
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| Sanju samson in practice |
However, Samson's absence was not felt in that matches, as Ryan Parag played a big role with the ball in India's victory whenever he got a chance. Although he was dismissed for 7 runs with the bat while playing the fourth T20 match of his career, he made a considerable impact with the bowling. Ryan Parag picked up three wickets for just 5 runs in his spell of just 1.2 overs.
Indian team management has been leaning more towards all-round players recently and that makes it difficult to keep Parag out of the playing eleven, Irfan Pathan said on his X handle.
"You'll see Ryan Parag getting a lot of opportunities in the future because of his bowling ability. As a top-order batsman, many players in the country aren't good at bowling. This is where Ryan Parag will get an added advantage, and rightly so. Pathan posted on X.
Samson's Strange Case continues the puzzle:
He played the 2nd T20I, coming in for vice-captain Shubman Gill, who had developed back spasms, but was dismissed on the first ball. Earlier, left out of India's playing eleven for all T20 World Cup matches, Samson played two T20I innings in Zimbabwe, where he scored 12 not out and a 58. But from there he was dropped from the 1st T20I against Sri. Indian fans are upset. He had an excellent IPL 2024 as he led Rajasthan Royals from the front, scoring 531 runs - his most in a single edition of the tournament.
It must be known that Samson scored his maiden century for India earlier this year when he scored 108 runs against South Africa in Pearl. But the wicketkeeper-batsman was left out of the ODI squad against Sri Lanka, much to the shock of many. Samson has a huge fanbase in India, perhaps second only to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Therefore, every time such a decision of the board towards him is creating strong criticism on social media.
As for Parag, a report last week said that Gambhir and Co. wanted to pick Tilak Verma in India's T20 squad, but the Mumbai Indians youngster is currently injured and the team management was forced to consider Parag. Because he is a top order batsman but has the ability to bowl 'yorkers and slower balls' in the death overs which will keep the Indian team slightly ahead. . As seen on Saturday, Parag's bowling is a bit like Sachin Tendulkar as he can spin both off and leg.
How strong a team is these days depends more on the lower middle order. India is focusing more on players like Akshar Patel than a specialist spinner like Yuzvendra Chahal. And this is why Parag seems to have a little more chance than the rest. As Irfan Pathan points out, with India looking for more combinations and options as they slowly move towards the T20 World Cup at home in 2026, Parag certainly cannot be overlooked.
