Sanju isn’t the only one affected; even Shubman Gill’s position looks unsafe under Gambhir

After India won the T20I World Cup on June 29, 2024, Rahul Dravid stepped down as the head coach of the Indian cricket team. Gautam Gambhir then took over as India’s new head coach. The team expected to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand in the upcoming home series and then head to Australia with confidence. But India, who were hoping to qualify for the World Test Championship final with a win over New Zealand, were instead whitewashed in the home series. That series, in fact, was an early warning.

In March this year, India lifted the Champions Trophy under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. After this, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Test cricket. However, both decided to continue playing in the ODI format. Since Rohit retired from the T20I and Test formats, he also lost his ODI captaincy. The question still remains: was this the right way to treat the captain who ended India’s long ICC title drought?

Gautam Gambhir was appointed as India’s head coach mainly due to his success in guiding Kolkata Knight Riders to the 2024 IPL title and his growing presence as a nationalist voice in cricket debates, often even when it wasn’t required. Saying that senior players were nearing the end of their careers and that a new team had to be built, he made Shubman Gill the captain of both the Test and ODI teams.

Indian cricket has always had true poster boys and superstars. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, and Rohit Sharma earned that tag through their performances. But making Shubman Gill captain with the intention of turning him into a poster boy right from the start has caused several issues.

In T20Is, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson were performing brilliantly as an opening pair when Gill was brought back to the team. Sanju, who had scored three centuries and was in top form, was pushed down to the middle order, and now he is not even in the playing XI. It remains to be seen how long he will stay in the squad. Gill, on the other hand, has never looked like a player suited for the T20 batting style at any point in his career. Abhishek Sharma’s superb form and India’s consistent wins helped hide Gill’s weaknesses in this format.

This is not just about Sanju alone—many players who deserve opportunities have been ignored. Gill has been made vice-captain in a format where he does not fit, and he continues to get chances despite failures. Players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, and Rinku Singh now have no opportunities in international cricket. The pressure of denying others chances is clearly visible in Gill’s batting as well. What remains to be seen is whether this will also affect his performance in ODIs and Tests.