‘The Night I Couldn’t Sleep’: Gautam Gambhir Opens Up About ‘Toughest Decision’ To Drop Sanju Samson For Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

vaibhav sooryavanshi, gautam gambhir, sanju samson India head coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed the emotional struggles behind one of his biggest selection calls in T20Is, admitting that dropping Sanju Samson during the England series kept him awake.Samson, who was named player of the tournament during India’s T20 World Cup triumph earlier this year, was left out after the first match of the five-match series in England in July. India lost the opening T20I and teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi came into the XI on his T20I debut in Manchester.Gambhir said the decision weighed heavily on him, especially since Samson had played such an important role in India’s World Cup success. Speaking to JioStar ahead of India’s home season against West Indies, the India coach revealed how tough it was.“In the two years of my journey, that was the only night I couldn’t sleep and I told Sanju that because I knew it was probably the hardest decision in my coaching career in the T20 format because someone who was the player of the tournament and then you have to drop him after three or four matches. And the reason was probably also that Vaibhav was in that form and we had to win the series.“Because at the end of the day you’re there and when you’re playing for India or when you’re coaching India, you want to win every series. I had a very, very honest conversation with him and I told him that’s one of the reasons because Vaibhav was in that form and we needed someone to score runs at the top, we needed that little platform that he was on and Sanju was on as well.” he took it in good spirits,” said Gambhir.The challenge was eventually reversed as India returned home for their three-match T20I series against Afghanistan. Samson returned to the side at the expense of Sooryavanshi and continued with back-to-back knocks as India completed the series 3-0.Gambhir also used the episode to explain why even a player in exceptional form cannot automatically expect a place in India’s playing XI.“I know, it’s (difficult). But then I made him understand that I know you’re in good form, but sometimes with players who have done well for a long time, you have to wait for your chance.“There’s one more thing – social media or outside noise doesn’t decide the playing XI. Playing the XI that in that dressing room or who the coach and the captain feel can win us the game or what’s the best playing XI that’s been successful for so long because if Vaibhav plays today then it’s going to be a tough conversation between me and whoever we leave out, whether it’s Abhishek or Sanju.”“So we can’t suddenly ignore a combination that has made such an impact over the last year and a half or two years that we drop them after three or four setbacks and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good form.”“So sometimes you have to wait for your opportunity and we still want to create that safety in that dressing room. Because it’s very easy for me to make popular decisions, but probably the hardest thing for me is to make the right decisions and we made the right decision to continue with Sanju and Abhishek,” he explained.Nevertheless, the emergence of Sooryavanshi has added another dimension to India’s T20I selection puzzle. The teenager made his international debut in Manchester, but Gambhir stressed that India’s established combination cannot be discarded just because the youngster is performing well.Maintaining continuity remains especially important for the Indian coach given the team’s recent success. Gambhir pointed to the short turnaround between India’s World Cup triumphs while arguing against overreacting to isolated setbacks.“Imagine, imagine we won the World Cup for two years – what team in the history of sports has gone from one World Cup to the next undefeated and won the World Cup?“These guys didn’t take 17 years to win their second World Cup. It took these guys just 17 months to win their third World Cup. All of a sudden one bad run or three bad games here and there doesn’t make them a bad player or us a bad side. So it was very important for us to have that continuity.”