Sanju Samson criticises India's cramped T20I schedule after West Indies series
Sanju Samson says the team had only one practice day across five T20I matches against West Indies.
Sanju Samson said India had only one practice session during the five-match T20I series against West Indies, which ended in a rain washout in Bengaluru on October 17, 2026. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 11, 82, 3, 56 and 16 across the completed matches and highlighted how the team travelled to a different city for each fixture without adequate preparation time.
Samson told broadcasters that experience helped players stay in a good mental space and assess conditions quickly once they reached the ground. He noted the team would reach New Zealand on October 20, practise on October 21 and play the first of another five-match T20I series on October 22.
Samson will not travel with the rest of the squad for the New Zealand series. West Indies captain Shai Hope scored two centuries and one fifty in four innings to finish as the series' highest run-scorer.
CricHubb Take
The back-to-back five-match T20I assignments leave little room for recovery or adjustment, and the decision to rest Samson for New Zealand suggests the selectors recognise the physical toll of such scheduling.