India's head coach prioritises continuity with established players over in-form youngsters.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has made an impressive start to his international career since his T20I debut against England in July 2026. The young batter has played six T20I matches and accumulated 193 runs at an average of 32.16. His form extended to the IPL 2026 season, where he was the leading run-scorer for Rajasthan Royals with 776 runs and earned the MVP award. Most recently, Sooryavanshi became the youngest Indian to win an Asian Games gold medal when he scored 15 off 9 balls in the final at age 15 years, 6 months, and 6 days.
Despite his impressive performances, Sooryavanshi has not featured in India's recent T20I series against Afghanistan. Head coach Gautam Gambhir addressed the selection decision in an interview, explaining the reasoning behind keeping the young talent on the sidelines. Sanju Samson played in all three matches of India's 3-0 series win over Afghanistan and scored two fifties during the campaign.
"It was a new experience for me as well. Yes, he was in good form, but I made him understand that sometimes, because of the players who have done well for a long time, he will have to wait for his opportunity. And there's one more thing, social media or outside noise doesn't decide the playing eleven. It depends on who in that dressing room, or who the coach and captain feel can win us the match, or what is the best playing eleven, and who have done well for such a long time," Gambhir said on JioStar's 'Follow the Blues: Gautam Gambhir Unfiltered'.
Why Sooryavanshi must wait despite strong form
Gambhir faces the difficult task of balancing the claims of in-form youngsters against the proven track record of established players. The head coach has consistently backed Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma despite recent inconsistencies, viewing their longer body of work as more valuable than short-term form.
"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 whether it's Sanju. So, we can't suddenly ignore a combination that has created such an impact over the last one and a half or two years, and after three or four failures, drop them and play a young player who is very talented, who is also in very good form. So, sometimes you will have to wait for your opportunity because we want to create that security in that dressing room," Gambhir added.
The case for continuity over form
Gambhir emphasised that selection decisions must be based on long-term stability rather than immediate popularity or social media pressure. He stressed the importance of maintaining faith in players who have delivered consistently over extended periods, even when they experience temporary setbacks.
"It is very easy for me to take popular decisions, but it is probably the toughest thing for me to take the right decisions. And we've taken the right decision of continuing with Sanju and Abhishek. And no team in the history of sport has gone undefeated from one World Cup to the other and gone on to win the World Cup again. Suddenly, one bad series or three bad games here and there does not make them a bad player or does not make us a bad side. So, it was very important for us to have that continuity," he concluded.