Overview:
Tilak Varma is due to return to the team after recovering from his surgery, and head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav could include him in the Playing XI.
Sanju Samson was dismissed on the first ball of Team India’s 154-run chase in the third T20I. His duck marked the third consecutive instance of him failing in the ongoing five-match T20I series against New Zealand. He was bowled by Matt Henry, with the wicket-keeper batter moving into the crease and unable to hit the ball on the leg side of the wicket.
He was preferred over Shubman Gill for the New Zealand series and the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, but his ordinary performance will force the team management and the selectors to rethink about his place in the squad, considering the teams can change their groups one week before the global tournament, which is set to start in India and Sri Lanka from February 7.
Samson replaced injured Gill in the fifth and final T20I against South Africa, and his score of 37 convinced the decision makers that he was the right candidate for the World Cup. However, he managed just 10 runs in the series opener against the Kiwis. In the next game, the return was ordinary, with the opener contributing just 6 runs.
With another flop show in Guwahati, there is a possibility of him warming the bench in the fourth contest, with Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma opening the batting. Tilak Varma is due to return to the team after recovering from his surgery, and head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav could include him in the Playing XI.