Ishan Kishan will not be able to replace Sanju Samson?Image Credit source: PTI

Ishan Kishan returned to Team India after about two and a quarter years and made a comeback with a bang. Ishaan, who was selected as the backup wicketkeeper-batsman for the T20 World Cup 2026, strengthened his claim by scoring indiscriminate runs in the T20 series against New Zealand. On the other hand, the performance of the team's main keeper-batsman Sanju Samson was very poor in the entire series, due to which Ishaan is being considered a good option to replace him in the playing-11 in the World Cup. But meanwhile, a weakness of Ishaan has come to light, which can prove to be a life saver for Samson.

Ishaan's explosive batting in the series

Last match of T20 series in Thiruvananthapuram Ishaan Named after. In this match, Team India batted first and scored a big score of 271 runs. The real reason for this was left-handed batsman Ishaan, who played an astonishing inning of 103 runs in just 43 balls. This was Ishaan's second big inning in this series. Earlier, he had scored a brilliant inning of 76 runs in the second T20 also. In this way Ishaan ended the series with 215 runs in 4 innings.

But one weakness gave tension

This performance makes Ishaan a strong contender for a place in the playing-11 in the World Cup. Especially considering the kind of performance of Sanju Samson in the entire series, Ishaan seems ahead of him. But in the last match, such a weakness of Ishaan came to light, due to which it may prove difficult to drop Samson from the playing-11. Actually, in the 5th T20, Team India gave the responsibility of wicketkeeping to Ishan Kishan and here he proved to be weak.

Team India won this match but during this period Ishaan looked ineffective behind the wicket. He left stumping twice during this period. He first missed the opportunity to stump out Finn Allen in the 9th over, when he was on 73 runs. After this, he also missed the stumping of Ish Sodhi in the 17th over. Sodhi was then on 1 run and was finally out after scoring 33 runs. Not only this, during this entire match he also gave 8 extra runs bye, whereas Samson had given only 5 extra runs in the last four matches combined.

Will Samson save the place?

This series was not good for Samson and he could score only 46 runs in 5 matches. After this performance, it is finding it difficult to retain him in the playing-11. Especially due to Ishaan's form and Tilak Verma's return after getting fit, the circumstances do not seem to be in their favor. But looking at Ishaan's keeping, we cannot trust him to give this responsibility because these mistakes can be harmful during the World Cup. In such a situation, Samson may be successful in retaining his place.