When the India selectors sat down to pick the T20 World Cup squad, Sanju Samson became the answer to an important question. Who opens with Abhishek Sharma: Samson or Shubman Gill? Of course, selection debates are never that simple, especially when two strategically important roles are involved - opener and wicketkeeper. Samson won that battle, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained Gill's omission as a call driven by combinations more than anything else.

In a sense, this was the selectors correcting course from a decision taken ahead of the Asia Cup in 2025. The Abhishek-Samson opening pair was persisted with across three successive series in 2024 and early 2025, but Samson became collateral damage when India reintegrated Gill into the squad and XI for the Asia Cup after his Test commitments.

Samson was pushed to the middle order, where he struggled and was a poorer fit than the back-up keeper in the squad - Jitesh Sharma, who brought finishing skills to the table. By the time the World Cup discussions came around, the thinking flipped again. Gill was short of runs, Samson went back to the top, and Ishan Kishan - fresh off a prolific title-winning SMAT campaign was brought in as the reserve keeper and top-order cover. The stars, so to speak, aligned.

Less than two weeks from India's first World Cup game, though, a noticeable blemish has appeared on what otherwise looks like a near-perfect T20 batting picture. On Sunday evening, India wrapped up the five-match series 3-0 - built on a sequence of morale-crushing batting performances. But Samson had little involvement in any of the three wins. In Guwahati, he had his off-stump floored on the first ball of the chase after shuffling back and across and missing a flick from the backfoot.

"For him [Samson], there's a slight tweak," Ajinkya Rahane said on Cricbuzz Live. "What I saw in him in the last two games is basically he likes to go back in his crease. That's when I saw he's not leaning towards the ball, he's slightly upright. If you see his dismissals also - first game [caught] towards square leg and second game towards mid-on. It's because of his back and across movement... he likes to go too deep. It's T20, you don't think too much about technique."

The lack of runs is not a one-week problem. It stretches back 12 months. Since January 2025, Samson has made it past the PowerPlay just once in nine T20I innings as an opener. In this same stretch of games, he averages 11.55. Based on what came before this slump, Samson found backing over Gill, who couldn't produce numbers or the kind of strike rate that India expected from their top-order. In 2024, Samson showed a clear appetite for both - a run including 111 (47) against Bangladesh in Hyderabad and 109 (56) against South Africa in Johannesburg. The question now is how long does the credit for such knocks and the undoubted ability last?

Samson's situation might also be a touch complicated by Ishan Kishan's ability to sing from the same hymn sheet as Abhishek at the top of the order. He left Suryakumar Yadav slack-jawed with his intent in Raipur and was in full cahoots with Abhishek during the PowerPlay mayhem in Guwahati (94/2 in 6 overs). Kishan's game time in this series may have come because of an injury to No.3 batter Tilak Varma, but he also brings genuine opening experience in this format for India to consider. Samson's struggles have effectively turned Kishan into a de facto opener, with entry points of 2 overs, 1 over and just two deliveries.

So what next for this increasingly complicated batting triangle: Samson, Kishan and Tilak, expected to return from the fourth T20I on January 28? As the third-ranked T20I batter in the world, Tilak will walk straight back into the one-drop role. That leaves India with an opener in a rut and a top-order back-up brimming with confidence, intent and runs.

Yet, it is unlikely that Samson is playing with a target on his back, coming so soon after the management renewed its faith in him at the top of the order. In a series where Suryakumar has turned his dwindling form around in the space of three days, Samson will be backed to attempt the same, in Vizag and Trivandrum. But if that does not pan out, India could find themselves confronting another big call at the World Cup, once again with Samson at the centre of it.