Ravichandran Ashwin's One-Line Response Silences Criticism Of Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson's scores in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand read: 67, 14, 18, 4, 4. This sequence of scores comes at a time when there is intense speculation on social media about whether Sanju Samson should make way for the young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Sooryavanshi played in two T20Is in the series and scored 4 and 45. Samson, however, has the support of the team management and former players like Ravichandran Ashwin. Time and again, Ashwin has said that the 15-year-old Sooryavanshi should be allowed to "enjoy his cricket" for now. Even Gautam Gambhir said that the seniors should justifiably get a "long rope" in the T20I squad.

On Sunday, after Samson fell for 4, a social media user tried to rage-bait Ashwin. "Hello Ashwin, your first choice Sanju flopped throughout the entire series @ashwinravi99," he wrote.

In reply, Ashwin gave a cheeky response: "Sanju mera first-choice, tumhara full-time obsession (Sanju is my first choice, he's your full-time obsession)."

संजू मेरा फर्स्ट चॉइस है, तुम्हारा फुल-टाइम ऑब्सेशन 😂

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) November 1, 2026

India boast considerable bench strength. Teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has had to wait for his opportunity, with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma performing consistently at the top of the order. Both played a key role in India defending their T20I World Cup title earlier this year.

"First of all, my job is not to make everyone happy. My job is to take the right decisions, not the popular decisions. And that is what I'm there for," Gambhir told the broadcasters ahead of the fifth T20I.

He stressed that backing players who have performed consistently was also important to ensure a sense of security within the dressing room.

"No, it is very easy to take the popular decision. But for me, I think the important thing is to take the right decision and make sure that there is a lot of security inside the dressing room.

"Because, as you just mentioned, there's a lot of talent. But again, I think guys who have done phenomenally well over a longer period of time obviously deserve a longer rope. And that is exactly how we approach the series."

Featured Video Of The Day

India Ends CWG Boxing Campaign With Record-Breaking Seven Gold Medals