Hyderabad: Sanju Samson's conundrum has been perennial in Indian team's selection for a few years now. While former players have questioned the rationale behind Samson's exclusion including Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, playing captains have reasoned for not being able to find him a place in the playing XI.
On 27 Dec, when BCCI announced the Indian squad for ODIs and T20Is series against Sri Lanka, the omission of Samson was noticeable in the ODI charts even as KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, who recently scored a double hundred, were included in the team as wicket-keepers.
Legendary cricketer Farokh Engineer is disappointed but he is content that the Indian team is blessed with multiple wicket-keeper/batters in the squad. "Very disappointing as Sanju is definitely an excellent WK/batsman. In fact, India is blessed with having so many good ones like Risabh Pant (wish him a speedy recovery)Ishant Kishan; Dinesh Karthik, and a couple of others," he told ETV Bharat over the telephone.
Among others, Vijay Lokapally, cricket expert and author of The Virender Sehwag Story; Driven: The Virat Kohli Story; World Cup Warriors among others, believes that selectors ought to show faith in the "explosive batsman" that he possesses the capability to dictate match on his own terms.
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"Sanju Samson ought to have played more regularly. He is an explosive batsman with an awesome range of shots. I have always loved his fearless approach. Certainly deserves five matches in a row. He should not be played with the pressure to perform. He will deliver. Selectors and team management have to show faith in him," Lokapally said.
Samson, who has regularly found backing in seasoned politican Shashi Tharoor, received support again as Tharoor expressed his displeasure through Twitter where he shared a meme that has been doing the rounds.
FULL SQUAD
India squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.
India squad for Sri Lanka ODIs: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (VC), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.
T20I series schedule:
1st T20I (Jan 3, Mumbai)
2nd T20I (Jan 5, Pune)
3rd T20I (Jan 7, Rajkot)
ODI series schedule:
1st ODI (Jan 10, Guwahati)
2nd ODI (Jan 12, Kolkata)
3rd ODI (Jan 15; Thiruvananthapurm)
