'It's not something he's been successful at' - Abhishek Nayar on Sanju Samson's potential comeback to playing XI in 4th T20I vs England

Sanju Samson was dropped from India's playing XI after scoring just six runs across three innings on the tour of the United Kingdom. Two of those three innings were against Ireland. Now that India are in dire straits against England, trailing 0-2 in the five-match series with two more T20Is to play, fans are demanding that Samson should be brought back into the side.

When asked by a broadcaster whether India should replace the out-of-form Tilak Varma with Samson for the fourth T20I at the County Ground in Bristol on Thursday, July 9, Nayar said that the wicketkeeper-batter should not be brought back into the playing XI in such a way that disrupts the team combination. The former assistant coach of the Indian team mentioned that Samson's best performances have come while he has batted in the top three, and having him bat down the order will not yield the desired results.

"I really feel that if you have to get Sanju Samson back in, you want to position him in a place where he can succeed. Now, just because you want to bring him in, you're going to bat him at No. 4, 5 or 6. It's not something he's done a lot. It's not something he's been successful at," Nayar was quoted as saying by India Today.

"He's been best suited when he's opened or batted in the top three. So if you aren't giving him that position, then I feel it's better that you don't play Sanju Samson and instead stick with the kind of batting line-up India has," he added.

Tilak has scored just one half-century across the five innings he has played in the United Kingdom on this tour. The new Indian vice-captain has batted out of position as well. He is primarily a No. 3 batter but has had to bat down the order to make space for Ishan Kishan. Nayar urged the Indian team management not to press the panic button. Instead, he advised them to ask the batters to assess the conditions better and play accordingly.

"They'll have to reflect on it. Like Gautam Gambhir said, they've got 190 in two innings, but that is batting first. They struggled chasing because they haven't assessed conditions enough. They haven't found the right tempo to score runs," Nayar said.

"You don't want to press the panic button. You don't want to make changes for the sake of it. If Sanju Samson has to come in, that's all the management has to do: position him in a place where he can succeed," he added.