Mohammad Kaif blasts India’s ‘confused’ team management over Sanju Samson, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi handling

Mohammad Kaif has criticised India's team management over its handling of Sanju Samson and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi following the 4-0 T20I series defeat to England. Sanjay Manjrekar also urged selectors to look beyond IPL performances while assessing players for overseas cricket.

New Delhi: Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif has slammed the team management for mishandling batters Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson in the 4-0 T20I series defeat to England, adding that he has ‘never seen a more confused Indian cricket team management.’

India, the current T20 World Cup holders, endured a forgettable tour, losing 2-0 to Ireland before receiving a drubbing in England, which also led to them losing their top spot in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings.

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The tour was marred by erratic selection calls, particularly involving teenaged batting sensation Sooryavanshi and wicketkeeper-batter Samson, who was the Player of the Tournament in this year’s T20 World Cup triumph on home soil.

“Never seen a more confused Indian cricket team management. The handling of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson has been far from professional. One is a generational talent, another World Cup winner – they need to be given confidence not doubts in their minds,” Kaif wrote on his ‘X’ account on Sunday.

Samson initially played three games, but got out cheaply and India then dropped him to accommodate Sooryavanshi, who couldn’t cross 20 in his first three T20I games. In Saturday’s 56-run defeat at Southampton, Samson was recalled at the expense of Sooryavanshi to fix a top-order left-handed imbalance.

To add further confusion, Samson has been excluded while Sooryavanshi is retained for the three-game series in Zimbabwe, starting on July 23. Meanwhile, ex-India batter Sanjay Manjrekar urged selectors to look beyond Indian Premier League (IPL) performances, arguing that flat domestic tracks give a distorted view of a batter’s capability in testing overseas conditions.

“The easy thing would be is to hold players responsible for this overseas T20 setback. The right thing would be is to hold those responsible who have made IPL such, that it puts a heavy make up on Indian batters.

“Challenge is for the selectors to imagine Indian batters without the heavy IPL make up on & pick only those for India. A lot of T20 cricket will be overseas now. The home fun run is over,” he wrote on his ‘X’ account.