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The India vs Afghanistan 1st T20I match has been over as Shreyas Iyer’s side won the first game in dominating fashion to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. However, the concern with Sanju Samson’s form remained as the opener failed to deliver in the first game and former batter Mohammad Kaif took a swipe at him.
India won the match by 7 wickets while chasing a target of 157 runs; it was the night of Abhishek Sharma, who went berserk in the match and helped the Men in Blue finish the game with 38 balls to spare at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The Southpaw scored 82 runs in the match and was the POTM.
Mohammad Kaif questions India's decision to play Sanju Samson over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Mohammad Kaif was furious with the team management’s decision to drop Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and play Sanju Samson in the first match. He questioned Gautam Gambhir on why Samson played the game instead of the boy wonder. He, while speaking on Cricbuzz, asked the team management why Vaibhav was dropped despite getting runs in Zimbabwe, and winning the Player of the Series.
"What did Sanju do in between to get a chance today? Usually, when you are dropped, you play here and there and regain some form; nothing like that has happened. Why did he get a chance? That is a massive question? Why didn't you go with the same combination after Vaibhav scored runs in Zimbabwe, that is another question."
"In my opinion, they are hesitating a bit": Mohammad Kaif on India's opening combinatuon
While speaking in the same video, Mohammad Kaif revealed that the India National Cricket Team management is unaware of their best opening combination. The management has tried and tested with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, which is their old combination, and also Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opening with Abhishek Sharma.
Kaif believes that the confusion goes on, and he is completely sure of it. Samson got the start in the match but failed to convert it as he was dismissed for 10 runs off 8 balls.
"In my opinion, they are hesitating a bit, they are unsure of what their best opening combination is. The Indian team are still thinking about it. Vaibhav must be saying what did I do wrong? So this is a state of confusion going on, there is no doubt about it," the former batter said on Cricbuzz.
Why does India play Sanju Samson?
In the same video on Cricbuzz, Mohit Sharma backed India’s decision to go with Samson as the opener, as he believes that there are some advantages to opening with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter. The Men in Blue management backs Sanju’s experience, and India, which is already a left-heavy side, needs a right-hander at the top.
"I think of a couple of reasons behind it. Firstly, Sanju Samson is a senior player, and he had a really good World Cup as well. The second reason is that when you play Vaibhav, you have a lot of left-handers in the batting order. Maybe they are thinking about the left-hand-right-hand combination, and maybe that is why Sanju Samson is being chosen," he said.
