Time for Sanju Samson to return, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to sit out with India's no. 1 spot in danger

With India at the risk of losing their no.1 spot i the T20 rankings, a set of changes are expected to be made to the playing XI for ENG vs IND 5th T20I.

India cricket team have one final chance to avoid a complete whitewash as they take on England in the ENG vs IND 5th T20I in Southampton on Saturday. The defending champions have remained winless after lifting their 3rd T20 World Cup, having first lost 0-2 to Ireland followed by three consecutive losses to the Three Lions. Shreyas Iyer, who is yet to secure his first win as the captain, will be forced to make more than just one change to the playing XI for the must-win tie.

After all, the Indian team has admitted on various occasions that they have failed to adapt to the conditions in the UK. Technical flaws, tactical blunders, failure to read the conditions correctly and play accordingly have boggled India in this series, highlighting a major problem for the side ahead of the T20 World Cup 2028 in Australia where they will be playing on similar tracks and conditions.

Predicted India playing XI for ENG vs IND 5th T20I

Sanju Samson returns, Sooryavanshi out

After three back-to-back defeats, India might be compelled to bring back Sanju Samson into the playing XI for the ENG vs IND 5th T20I. The T20 World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament was dropped after failing to fire in three consective games and was replaced by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the line-up. However, the 15-year-old did not produce results as expected despite showing promising signs.

The excessive presence of left-handers in the XI might force the Indian team management to bring Sanju back into the fold. This will allow the team to strike a left-right hand balance at the top of the order, something that has worked for India in the past. Samson, who has scored 5, 0 and 1 in his last three outings, may be presented with one last chace to redeem himself before the Asian Games 2026, in a bid to cement his spot as an opener.

To bench Sooryavanshi would be an unfair call. However, the past three games have shown that the 15-year-old needs more experience playing in the senior side and in conditions that the surfaces in the UK have presented in order to become better. 14, 13 and 15 are his scores in the last three games, indicating that while he has the ability to give a good start, the England bowlers – especially Jofra Archer – seems to have found a hack to make the 15-year-old his bunny.

Short ball struggles ft. Ishan Kishan, other batters

The Indian batters have quite literally struggled against short deliveries from seamers in the ENG vs IND series. While they have scored 171 runs from 118 short-pitched deliveries, they have lost 11 wickets, averaging 15.54 at a strike rate of 144.9. From young Sooryavanshi to experienced candidates like Ishan Kishan, most batters have struggled to deal with this menace. The ENG vs IND 5th T20I presents one last chance for Kishan to make amends to his technique to deal with the short balls.

Sooryavanshi can only play at the top of the order. Therefore, in order to accomodate Samson, he must be dropped. After all, the decision to expose him to England in his very first T20I series has been questioned by experts. Another option could be to play Samson at number 3 – a position where he has scored the most number of runs in T20s. However, continuing with Kishan at number 3 will keep the left-right balance intact.

Pressure on Tilak Varma

Tilak Varma will be the most pressurized batter in the Indian XI. In the four games that he has played in the ENG vs IND T20I series, he has only managed to score 51 runs at a miserable strike rate of 118.60 and averaging just 17 (13, 24*, 3 and 11). These numbers certainly do not warrant for a spot in the line-up, and certainly are not the numbers that a finisher will want against his name.

Dropping Tilak is hard, as he is the vice-captain for the Indian team. However, time might be running out of his hands as well. The batter will have to return to scoring runs in the ENG vs IND 5h T20I else face the risk of being shown the door in the future.

Bowling blues

The bowlers have let down the Indian team multiple times in this series and captain Shreyas Iyer has made no attempts to hide it. Ravi Bishnoi was thrown under the bus for conceding 60 runs in the 2nd T20I that allowed England to snatch the win. In the previous game, Iyer blamed the bowlers for not executing their plans to the T as India lost by 9 wickets. To make matters worse, India have lost Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy to injuries.

India are expected to field Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav in the pace department, with Shivam Dube expected to play the third fiddle. Given Gautam Gambhir’s obsession with all-rounders, Washington Sundar could replace Rana in the XI while Suryansh Shedge is likely to get a game in place of Axar Patel. With Chakravarty being ruled out, India might have no option but to bring back Bishnoi into the playing XI. And, it also remains to be seen how Sundar will be used with the ball.