IND vs USA: Why is Sanju Samson not playing tonight's clash in T20 World Cup 2026?
(Courtesy : BCCI)
Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan are two wicket-keepers in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2026.
India and USA are locking horns in the third match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 on Saturday (February 7) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams are placed in Group A in the tournament, alongside Pakistan, the Netherlands, and Namibia.
USA captain Monank Patel won the toss and chose to field first in the match. Although India lost the toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav reckoned that they were looking to bat first in the encounter.
At the toss, Yadav revealed India’s playing XI for the match. Surprisingly, Sanju Samson was not part of India‘s playing XI in the clash. Moreover, pacer Jasprit Bumrah also missed out due to illness and was replaced by Mohammed Siraj in the playing XI.
Why is Sanju Samson absent from the IND vs USA clash?
Notably, Samson has been dropped from the team for the IND vs USA match, as the Men in Blue have chosen Ishan Kishan as the wicket-keeper in the playing XI. Also, the latter will also open the batting with Abhishek Sharma.
Speaking about India’s playing XI, Yadav said, “It’s live before the game starts and I’m sure when we start batting, it will be more wilder. We have Washington Sundar missing out, Sanju Samson missing out. Unfortunately, Jasprit Bumrah is not well so Mohammed Siraj is playing”.
In the T20I series against New Zealand ahead of the World Cup, Samson completely flopped with his batting. Across five games, he piled up just 46 runs, while also getting out for a golden duck in one game.
On the other hand, Kishan impressed with his incredible batting show by smacking a half-century and a century across five games. He was Player of the Match in two matches and also ended as the team’s second-highest run-scorer with 215 runs at an average of over 50 and a 230+ strike rate.
Later, Ishan replaced Samson as an opener in the warm-up clash against South Africa on February 4 in Navi Mumbai, where he once again impressed with a quickfire half-century. Hence, Kishan has justified his selection over Sanju as the wicket-keeper batter.
India’s playing XI vs USA: Ishan Kishan(w), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
USA’s playing XI vs India: Saiteja Mukkamalla, Andries Gous (wk), Monank Patel (capt), Milind Kumar, Sanjay Krishnamurthi, Harmeet Singh, Shubham Ranjane, Mohammad Mohsin, Shadley van Schalkwyk, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan.
Why is Sanju Samson not part of the IND vs USA game of the T20 World Cup 2026?
Due to poor performances, Sanju was dropped from the playing 11.
India are placed in which group in the T20 World Cup 2026?
India are placed in Group A in T20 World Cup 2026.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.