NEW DELHI: The national selection committee has decided to bench Sanju Samson for the three-match T20I series in Zimbabwe starting July 23. Ishan Kishan will play the role of the main wicketkeeper while Prabhsimran Singh has received a first call. TOI understands that the selectors have only retained Samson for now to give more opportunities to youngsters waiting in the wings.Sources told TOI that the effort is to give teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi more exposure at the highest level and a series against Zimbabwe is a perfect chance to do so. The BCCI has been on the same page. “It will be very strange if a senior player like Samson is made to sit around. It must be remembered that Samson is already in the Asian Games team due to travel in the last week of September. Ishan is the preferred wicketkeeper for the team management. As is the field where standards have fallen. The team needs good fielders, not wicketkeepers who fill in,” BCCI sources told TOI. “In the last decade, Zimbabwe tours have been used to check the strength of the bench. Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Harshit Rana have been given breaks. The bowling line-up is a new look,” added the source.The advice is to give Sooryavanshi as much international exposure as possible. The Indian team management handed the 15-year-old his international debut in place of Samson in the second T20I against England in Manchester on Saturday.We need boats in specialist positionsBarring three match-defining knocks in the victorious T20 World Cup campaign in March, Samson’s consistency has been questionable. I have scored just one run in the last three T20Is in Ireland and England. The selectors and team management felt that playing Samson and Ishan pushed the entire middle order out of their positions. Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel are unbeaten in their positions and it has affected returns with Varma and Axar looking out of the comfort zone. The selectors are looking to strengthen the lower middle order to finish stronger in the T20 squad.