Shiv Sunder Das-led selection committee ignores performances of struggling stars. With Sanju Samson’s name not featured in the list, fans are distraught with the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). The ODI squad for the upcoming three matches against Australia was announced by the BCCI and once again, Sanju Samson has been overlooked by the selectors.
Jaydev Unadkat has made a comeback after playing his last ODI in 2013 alongside some usual names. Here is team India’s squad for the 3-match series vs Australia:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), R Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, W Sunder, Yazvendra Chahal, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat.
The exclusion of Samson is resulting in furious reactions from the fans. Despite having a better average and strike rate, Samson is being dropped continuously. Samson has scored 330 runs in 11 ODIs at an impressive average of 66 while batting in the middle order. He played 10 matches in the format in 2022, scoring 284 runs at an average of 71 with two fifties. Fans are even asking to release Samson so that he can shift to another country to pursue International cricket.
Sanju Samson has had a fate akin to Manish Pandey. He has done well in bits and pieces but hasn’t been able to convince the selectors or the team management. But of late, Samson has been a changed man. He has scored with consistency in T20s and ODIs, IPL and even for Kerala. But he has not managed to score a big one like Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill. Hence, Samson is getting excluded despite outshining others.
