Revealed: Why is Sanju Samson Dropped For ZIM vs IND T20I Series?

The Indian Cricket Team is currently on a white-ball tour to England, where the next assignment for the team is the Zimbabwe tour, where they will be playing 3 T20Is. Currently, in the 2nd T20I of ENG vs IND, a big change in the Indian Playing XI was observed as the World Cup champion, Sanju Samson, was dropped from the starting 11, making way for the 15-year-old sensation, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

While many fans saw this as a minor development, a big thing came when the Indian management announced the India T20I Squad against Zimbabwe, and the name of Sanju Samson was missing from the squad, making fans curious to know the reason behind Sanju Samson's absence from the squad.

Why is Sanju Samson Dropped From Indian T20I Squad?

The main reason behind Sanju Samson, one of the best wicketkeepers in India, being dropped from the India T20I squad against Zimbabwe is not disclosed, but it is assumed that Sanju might not be part of the T20I setup anymore, which can be observed from his being dropped from the Playing XI in the ongoing series against England after failing in three consecutive T20I innings. The poor performance in the last few matches has likely forced the management to drop Sanju Samson from the squad despite playing match-winning knocks in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and even winning the Player of the Tournament.

The management has announced young wicket-keeper batter Prabhsimran Singh from Punjab as Sanju Samson replacement in the squad as a second wicket-keeper. Here is the India T20I Squad against Zimbabwe:

Shreyas Iyer (c), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wk).

Sanju Samson Performance in Last 5 T20Is

Sanju Samson's last five T20I innings have been a mix of brilliant performances and disappointing scores. He was India's hero in the T20 World Cup 2026, smashing 89 runs against England in the semi-final and another 89 against New Zealand in the final to help India lift the title. His outstanding performances also earned him the Player of the Tournament award.

However, after the World Cup, Samson struggled to continue that form. He scored just 5 and 0 against Ireland before managing only 1 against England. In his last five T20I innings, Samson has scored 184 runs, with most of those coming during India's World Cup triumph.