'Everyone knows, including Gambhir, this hasn't been fair to Sanju Samson' - R Ashwin's massive remark on star batter's snub from 2nd T20I

Ravichandran Ashwin said that everyone, including Gautam Gambhir and the other members of the support staff, knows that dropping Sanju Samson from the playing XI in the second T20I against England was unfair.

Samson was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup earlier this year. However, after three consecutive failures, two against Ireland and one against England, the wicketkeeper-batter was replaced by the in-form Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Ashwin believes that Samson will now be looked at as a backup for fellow wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan at No. 3.

“Right now, I'm concerned. I'm worried because Sanju Samson has been dropped from the team so quickly. What will Sanju be thinking now? How motivated will he be when he goes to practice in the nets? At the moment, you already have three left-handers in the top order: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Ishan Kishan. Now, they will consider Sanju for No. 3, I’m telling you.. Everyone knows, including the coaching staff and Gautam Gambhir, that this hasn't been fair to Sanju. So now they'll have to manage the situation somehow," Ashwin said while speaking on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin, however, opined that the Indian team management should have backed Sanju Samson a little bit longer than it did, as he had made crucial contributions for the Men in Blue in the lead-up to the tour of the United Kingdom.

“See, you can't treat everybody fairly all the time. It's hard. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. I agree with that. But in this situation, I think the bigger mistake is dropping someone who has given you a great return on investment. Sanju Samson has delivered that return on investment. Even if that stock has a few bad days, you should continue backing it, at least for an extended run," the former India spinner added.

Ashwin wondered whether social media narratives and outside noise were influencing the team's decision-making. He admitted that if this is the case, it could be a huge concern for the Men in Blue going forward.

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“I'm concerned about one thing. Are social media narratives and all the outside noise finding their way into the team? Is that influencing the decision-making? That's what worries me. I've been watching cricket for a long time and have seen many leaders in the Indian team. They never allowed outside noise to enter the dressing room, and that's exactly how it should be.”