{"id":827144,"date":"2026-03-15T09:46:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T09:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/827144\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T09:46:21","slug":"we-wanted-more-firepower-gautam-gambhir-explains-bold-sanju-samson-move-in-t20-world-cup-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/827144\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We wanted more firepower’: Gautam Gambhir explains bold Sanju Samson move in T20 World Cup | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'WeIndia’s Sanju Samson (C) celebrates with his coach Gautam Gambhir (L) after their team’s win in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup final match against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 8, 2026. (AFP) Gautam Gambhir<\/a> has revealed that the decision to bring Sanju Samson<\/a> back into India\u2019s playing XI midway through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 was driven purely by the team\u2019s aggressive batting philosophy.According to the India head coach, the move was not about countering specific bowling match-ups but about adding more firepower at the top of the order as part of the team\u2019s attacking approach developed over the past 18 months. <\/p>\n

Gautam Gambhir reflects on India\u2019s World Cup win and backing Sanju Samson in the tournament<\/p>\n

Focus on explosive powerplay batting<\/p>\n

Gambhir dismissed speculation that Samson\u2019s inclusion was aimed at breaking a sequence of left-handed batters in the top order. Instead, he emphasised that the team management wanted a more explosive start during the powerplay overs.<\/p>\n

Poll<\/p>\n

Should young players like Abhishek Sharma be given more time to find their form?<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people might say we wanted to break the three left-handers at the top, but that was not the reason at all. The ideology over the last one and a half years has been to go out and be as explosive as possible,\u201d Gambhir said while speaking on JioStar.\u201cIt wasn\u2019t about managing an off-spinner from the other end. A quality batter should be able to handle any type of bowler. The idea was whether we could add even more aggression in the first six overs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samson\u2019s ability to change games quickly<\/p>\n

Gambhir highlighted Samson\u2019s natural attacking ability, saying the wicketkeeper-batter can completely change the course of a match within the powerplay. \u201cWe know what Sanju can do. There was never any doubt about his talent or explosiveness. If he gets going, he can win you the game inside the first six overs.\u201dThe coach also pointed to the depth in India\u2019s batting lineup, which made the top order even more dangerous. \u201cImagine having Abhishek<\/a>, Sanju and Ishan as your top three, and then you have Surya, Hardik, Tilak, Shivam and Axar to follow. You really can\u2019t ask for anything more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casual conversation with Samson<\/p>\n

Gambhir also shared how Samson was informed about his return to the team, revealing that the conversation happened casually during a gym session before India\u2019s match against Zimbabwe.\u201cI conveyed it to him in the gym. In fact, we were both training together and I just told him that you’ll be playing against Zimbabwe, and he said, ‘let it come.’ That’s the kind of casual conversation we have. It’s not like a head coach and player’s relationship. It’s a relationship where most of our one-on-one conversations happen during practice sessions,\u201d he noted.Gambhir also spoke about backing young opener Abhishek Sharma despite his slow start in the tournament, urging him to remain fearless and focus on his approach rather than the scrutiny around his scores.\u201cI’ve had a worse experience than him in 2014 during the IPL, when I got three ducks in a row and then another in the fourth game as well. All I told him was that people will look at your scores and will talk about your form, but actually you are not out of form, you are just out of runs,\u201d Gambhir opined.He further explained that players should be judged only after spending enough time at the crease, saying, \u201cThe only time you can judge your form is when you have played 20 to 30 balls in the middle, and he hasn’t even faced 20 balls yet. All I wanted him to do was go out there in the next game and be even more aggressive compared to what he was in the previous game.\u201dEncouraging the youngster to stay committed to his attacking mindset, Gambhir added, \u201cIf you want to hit the first ball out of the ground, go and do it, and commit yourself to it 100 per cent because it really doesn’t matter what the world thinks about you. All that matters is what those 30 people in the dressing room think about you, and that is exactly what should matter to all the boys. There was no doubt whatsoever about Abhishek. For anyone, to be honest, in that dressing room, we always had faith and trust in everyone who was selected to represent the country in the T20 World Cup.\u201d\"Banner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India’s Sanju Samson (C) celebrates with his coach Gautam Gambhir (L) after their team’s win in the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":827145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[50493,11445,1406,5709,16397,17703,79,53318,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-827144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-abhishek","9":"tag-abhishek-sharma","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-gautam-gambhir","12":"tag-india-cricket-team","13":"tag-sanju-samson","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-t20-world-cup-2026","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116232558368298630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=827144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/827144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/827145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=827144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=827144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=827144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}