Gambhir told Sooryavanshi he must wait behind Samson and Abhishek Sharma

India head coach Gautam Gambhir told 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi that established openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma will keep their places despite the youngster's recent form. Gambhir said selection decisions rest with the dressing room, not social media pressure.

Samson and Abhishek have scored 794 runs together in 33 innings at an average of 29.5 since the 2024 T20 World Cup. Gambhir said dropping them after a few failures would ignore the impact the pair has created over two years.

Sooryavanshi opened in the Asian Games final but has not featured in India's bilateral T20I series since. Samson said the gold medal win did not come on a platter and credited the experienced squad for handling a rain-affected tournament.