Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes if justice had to be served properly, then Sanju Samson deserved one more opportunity after England claimed a four-wicket win in the second T20I at Old Trafford, Manchester on Saturday.
Samson was dropped after returning with scores of 5, 0, 1 in the last three innings and had to make way for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who became the youngest Indian to make his International debut after Sachin Tendulkar.
However, Sooryavanshi could not grab his opportunity with both hands as he was dismissed after scoring 14 runs off 10 balls.
Meanwhile, Samson was the star of the show for India in the 2026 T20 World Cup, scoring 321 runs in five matches and was awarded the player of the tournament. Furthermore, he scored 477 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2026 for Chennai Super Kings.
“Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the kid made his debut. I am wondering what the Indian team thinks. Before the previous match, I had said that you should give Vaibhav all five games, and don’t play Sanju Samson in one game, Ishan Kishan the next time, and Abhishek Sharma after that, and split the five matches among the three of them like that because you don’t want to do justice and instead give a chance,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“You said you would go towards justice and play Sanju. I agree Sanju’s three innings have gone bad, but you have dropped him now. You didn’t think about playing Vaibhav because you have to give him a chance. After all, if you wanted to do justice, Sanju deserved one more knock,” he added.
The renowned commentator admitted that Sooryavanshi brings a lot of excitement to the game with his blistering batting.
“It seems like it wasn’t a decision about giving a chance. You have given it because you think the time is right now, which is fine. If you feel it’s the right time, it’s the right time. He hit two sixes. The six he hit against Josh Tongue was mighty, but then he fell prey to Will Jacks. A short knock, but it’s interesting to see the excitement and entertainment he brings with him,” he observed.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma scored another impressive knock of 43 runs off 24 balls after getting off to a slow start. Chopra praised the Indian opener for his impressive record against England.
“Abhishek Sharma actually likes England a lot. See his numbers against England. Although there was a slight play and miss for sure this time, the ball was bouncing a little and there was sideways movement, he eventually got going. There is no gain by putting spin in front of him. He hits hard,” he said.
“He was unlucky. It was a full toss from Sam Curran, and he got caught in the deep, but he batted like a dream once again. He batted at a strike rate of close to 180, just par for the course. He got dismissed on the last ball of the Powerplay when it seemed like he was going to make it huge,” Chopra observed.
The third T20I between England and India will be played at Nottingham on Tuesday.
