India, Feb. 1 -- India ticked most, if not all, boxes in the home T20I series against New Zealand, with the emphatic 4-1 victory further cementing their status as the strongest contenders for the upcoming World Cup. However, the series also left the team management with a significant selection headache: whether to persist with the under-fire Sanju Samson or move on and back the in-form Ishan Kishan in a high-stakes tournament. While captain Suryakumar Yadav chose to defer the decision, India legend Sunil Gavaskar made his stance in the debate clear.

After being collateral damage in India's Shubman Gill experiment, where Samson was pushed down the order before being dropped altogether, the selectors reinstated him as an opener ahead of th...