Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has opined that there seems to be a friction between head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar when it comes to the team selection in the shortest format of the game. His remarks come after India were handed a 0-4 defeat by England in the five-match series, that came right after the historic series loss to Ireland. Karthik pointed out that such friction between the coach and the chief selector wasn’t good for the players and that it needs to be rectified soon.
Gambhir, Agarkar not on same page?
Sanju Samson, who was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2026, was dropped after three poor outings despite the team management backing the star earlier. He was replaced by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the next three games, only for the 15-year-old to be dropped and for Sanju to be brought back into the playing XI in the final T20 in the series against England. Speaking on Sky Sports, Karthik claimed that the Indian team management’s view was very short sighted. And he states that this problem needs to be rectified soon.
“The chief selector Ajit Agarkar has one eye on the future, and he probably wants to try and see the group of players around. Whereas, Gambhir who is in the hot seat, might be thinking he wants to win every bilateral series. So I do think there’s a bit of friction between the chief selector – who has long term plans – and a current coach who is saying I want to win every game that I play, and hence a confusion that see unfold before us. Is it ideal for the players? Definitely not. It is surely as situation that India need to be aware of and rectify as soon as possible,” Karthik said.
After amassing 321 runs in the T20 WC and 477 runs in IPL 2026, Samson was dropped from India’s playing XI after scoring 5, 0 and 1 in the T20Is against Ireland and England respectively. Instead, 15-year-old Sooryavanshi was given three consecutive opportunities. In his very first T20I series as a senior, Vaibhav registered scores of 14, 13 and 15, only to be dropped in the final T20I. The reason cited by the India cricket team captain Shreyas Iyer was the need to maintain left-right balance at the top of the order.
Well, this tactic is questionable, as India could have opted to pursue with Samson despite three poor outings as they would have not only maintained the left-right combination but also would have justified their stand of backing a player who has performed for the team in the past.
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