Sanju Samson is all of 29, but apparently old enough to not secure a place in India's squad for the next T20 World Cup. The 2026 T20 World Cup will take place in the land of the defending champions India, but former India spinner Amit Mishra reckons that by 31, the management will have moved on from Samson because of the Kerala batter's age. India's victorious 2024 T20 World Cup campaign was the first World Cup squad Samson has been part of with the senior team having endured heartbreaks in 2022 and 2023. Although Samson did not get to be part of India's Playing XI, he realised his dream of becoming a World Champion. Would he have loved to play a more active part? Sure. But did he have that option? Possibly no.

With the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from T20Is, the Indian T20I setup is in a transitional phase, as visible from the bunch of players that won the Zimbabwe series. Outgoing batting coach Vikram Rathour has already stressed that the process must be implemented patiently and not rushed. Rest assured, when the squad for the 2026 T20WC is announced, it is expected to feature a mix of youth and experience, with Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav being the seniors and the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh featuring the younger lot. But will Samson be part of this squad? No, says Mishra, until something miraculous happens.

"I don't think so. He is old now. There is such a heavy influx of youngsters in the team this concept was introduced by Virat Kohli – that in T20Is, young players perform more, India need them more. He himself is 35," Mishra, the veteran India leg-spinner, said on Shubhankar Gupta's YouTube show 'Unplugged'.

A part of Mishra's belief stems from the fact that Samson, as a batter alone, cannot be a guaranteed starter, and when it comes to keeping wicket, there is plenty of competition. Rishabh Pant is already India's first-choice wicketkeeper batter, and with more youngsters waiting in the pecking order, Samson's chances don't look too bright. Unless…

'Samson can play for that he'll have to…'

"If Samson has to play, he will have to perform extraordinarily well. Then, it can be thought about. If he is in the team now, he should remain there until the next World Cup after two years. Then he can be considered. Otherwise, it is tough. Because there are so many youngsters knocking on the door. Ishan Kishan, such a wonderful talent, is sitting out of T20Is. Rishabh Pant has always been there. Dhruv Jurel, Jitesh Sharma... it's a long queue," he said.

Mishra then called out the belief system that T20 is a young man's game. Part of India's 2024 T20 World Cup campaign himself, Mishra reiterated the importance of seniors in the so-called 'young man's game', giving a couple of pretty perfect examples.

"The type of format this is, everyone has a fixed mindset that this is a young player's game. But who wins you games in T20Is? It's the seniors. From the 2007 T20 World Cup, take out Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Harbhajan? Would you have won it? No. From the 2024 T20 World Cup squad, take out Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Hardik… would they have won it? Your guess is as good as mine. So, seniors with experience are also needed in the T20 set-up," he said.

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