An Oddsworth Opinion
What the tale of the tape says about Samson and Sooryavanshi
The story
India's selectors must choose between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the teenager whose attacking batting has excited everyone who has watched him, and Sanju Samson, the experienced batter who starred when India won the 2026 T20 World Cup. The report presents it as a straight contest between youthful promise and proven pedigree.
The Times of India · 6 October at 04:10 BSTSooryavanshi or Samson? India face selection dilemmaRead the full storyIndia's next T20 selection has been billed as a prize fight: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the teenager whose strokeplay has the whole circuit talking, against Sanju Samson, a hero of the 2026 T20 World Cup win.
Before the bell, read the tale of the tape. In men's T20s over the last two years Samson has scored 1,759 runs at a strike rate of 163.2, against 130.1 for top-seven batters.
His average in that time is 35.18, where those same top-seven batters manage 23.53. He has scored faster than the rest and been harder to dismiss while doing it.
A champion on the ropes
The hundreds tell the same story. Samson has eight in a T20 career that began in 2013, and five of them have come in the last two years.
The contest exists because the recent card reads badly. Since an unbeaten 87 off 52 balls for Chennai Super Kings against Delhi Capitals in May, his five innings for India have gone 5 and 0 against Ireland, 1 and 27 against England, and 9 against Japan.
Five innings is a thin file to set against two years, but all five came in an India shirt, in a stretch when India lost to Ireland by one run and to England four times running.
Career average 31.4Not out
What the challenger has to beat
Sooryavanshi's case rests on what he looks like at the crease and what he might become. A side that lost to England by 125 runs in July will find the new man tempting.
India hardly need rescuing, though. Our ratings still have them as the best men's T20 side in the world, about 40 runs a match better than an average side, and they have won their last four.
Samson is less secure than his two-year figures suggest. Our ratings have him as the 14th-best men's T20 batter in the world, worth about 4 runs a match more than an average player. That is a very good batter, though hardly one beyond challenge.
- LIrelandLost by 1 runs v Ireland, 2026-06-28
- NREnglandNo result v England, 2026-07-01
- LEnglandLost by 4 wickets v England, 2026-07-04
- LEnglandLost by 125 runs v England, 2026-07-07
- LEnglandLost by 9 wickets v England, 2026-07-09
- LEnglandLost by 56 runs v England, 2026-07-11
- WZimbabweWon by 7 wickets v Zimbabwe, 2026-07-23
- WZimbabweWon by 90 runs v Zimbabwe, 2026-07-25
- WZimbabweWon by 35 runs v Zimbabwe, 2026-07-26
- WJapanWon by 2 runs v Japan, 2026-09-22
The verdict on points
A challenger takes the belt by beating the holder, and what Sooryavanshi has to beat is a strike rate of 163 held across two years.
Samson should keep the shirt, on points. Whether there is a rematch depends on his next few innings for India.