New Delhi, Oct 6 — Former India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara feels Sanju Samson should be the preferred option to open the innings for India with Abhishek Sharma, pointing out that the Chennai Super Kings batter still has years left in him and that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should wait.
Samson was the T20 World Cup player of the tournament and recently scored twin fifties against Afghanistan, although he was dismissed for cheap scores in Japan.
With India set to play against the West Indies in a five-match T20I series starting Tuesday, Pujara feels Samson should be the opening partner with Abhishek.
"I would go with Sanju Samson because he is an experienced player who has won a World Cup," Pujara told JioStar. "You can't suddenly make a change when someone is performing well just because you have an exceptional talent sitting on the bench.
"Sanju Samson is equally talented. He has also performed really well and is actually at his peak right now. You still have some years left in Sanju Samson, so try and make the most of it," he added.
Meanwhile, the former Test cricketer opined that Sooryavanshi would get his chances and that he will still learn from the experiences of being with the team anyhow.
"There will be injuries in between, so Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will definitely get opportunities. It's not like he won't get a chance. And it will be good for him only, even if he isn't in the playing XI; he can learn a lot of things by staying with the squad.
"As he matures, he will get his opportunities. India are playing a lot of T20 matches, so it's not like he won't get a chance all year, but he will have to wait for his opportunity," he said.
India recently found a way to field Samson, Sooryavanshi and Abhishek in the Playing XI in the Asian Games, but that meant that they pushed Ishan Kishan all the way behind to No.5 and had just one proper pacer in Jasprit Bumrah. That is set to change, which means India might have to make a choice between Samson and Sooryavanshi yet again.