This appears to be somewhat of the end of the road for Sanju Samsun as far as this year’s T20 World Cup is concerned, with the tournament still just three months away and the downing of the Kerala batsman from the upcoming 5-T20I series against the West Indies.
BCCI announces India lineup for West Indies
The five T20I matches, which will follow the three ODI matches, will begin on July 29 in Trinidad, followed by two matches in St Kitts, before moving to Florida in the USA for the final two matches on August 6 and 7.
On Thursday, the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced the formation of an 18-player squad that includes the likes of Shreyas Ayer, Deepak Hooda, Ishaan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav Ali Samsun.
India’s squad for 5 T20Is against WI: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishaan Kishan, KL. Rahul*, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Aksar Patel, R Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav*, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Sin Patel, Arshdeep. (*Inclusion is subject to KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav Fitness.)
Samson, named to the ODI team where a number of top players rest, smashed 77 of 42 balls in the last T20I – against Ireland – was not part of the last two T20I against England either.
And now this exclusion from the West Indies T20I series largely refers to the thoughts and plans of management and selectors regarding the 27-year-old Kerala batsman, who was, ironically, hailed as one of the most elegant batsmen by skipper Rohit Sharma in earlier this year when he returned during the Sri Lanka T20I series.
The Rajasthan Royals captain was in good shape at the IPL 2022, scoring 458 points per season with an average of 28, but an impressive hitting average of 146 – better than KL Rahul, Sharma, Kohli, Hooda, Iyer and Kishan.
Unsurprisingly, there has been quite an uproar over Sanju Samsun’s exclusion from T20I on social media. Former cricketer Dodda Ganesh even said he was baffled by the inclusion of Shreyas Iyer, who has not been in good contact and is regularly hit with short balls, over Samson.
“Ideally, you would want to play players like Sanju Samsun in the T20s. His shrieking for Shreyas Iyer goes beyond cricketing logic,” Duda Ganesh chirp.
Ideally, you would like players like Sanju Samsun in the T20s. Ignoring him for Shreyas Iyer is beyond the logic of cricket #Mathu_worm # Cricket_Twitter #WIvIND
– Big Ganesh | Dodda Ganesh July 14, 2022
Here are some other fan reactions to Samson being ignored again:
The story of giving Sanju Samsun a chance in T20I:
1 T20 vs ZIM in 2015 Jul
1 T20 vs SL in January 2020
2 T20 vs NZ in February 2020
3 T20 vs AUS in December 2020
3 T20 vs SL in 2021 Jul
2 T20 vs SL in February 2022
1 T20 vs IRE in 2022 Jun– Jones. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 14, 2022
indian wicket keeper last 3 scores in t20is
* Rishabh pant 1, 26, 1
* Dinesh Karthik 11,12,6
* Ishan Kishan 26,3,8
* Sanju Samson 39,18,77And guess what, they brought down the only performer pic.twitter.com/ROQpCx7nEd
– Anurag (@RightGaps) July 14, 2022
Sanju Samson deserves the chance, and feels sad for this talented player. Sanju fell from the T20I series against the West Indies 🥹
#SanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/YjP6V2qT4i– Ashutosh Srivastava (@kingashu1008) July 14, 2022
Rishabh Pant’s last 6 runs in T20I: 56 times
Sanju Samsun in his last turn 1 t20i: 77 times
Pant has failed in the middle and in the rankings too but why is he getting chances ahead of Sanju Samsun? pic.twitter.com/6ExAbpeAhP
– j | B (@ItzButter63) July 14, 2022
You may or may not agree but Sanju Samson deserves a full t20 series. 🇮🇳❤️
Bad luck pic.twitter.com/QlvReTtTN9
Rishabhpant fan club July 14, 2022
Feeling sad for Sanju Samsun ☹️ Another series where he could have been picked but it looks like he’s definitely not in India’s plans for World T20 🙃
Restart this Twitter if you think it deserves the chance 😤 pic.twitter.com/WPyeCDUpmZ
– Cricket 🏏 lover // Bumrah is a goat (CricCrazyV) July 14, 2022
Sanju Samsun could not find a place in the Indian squad T20I again.
His stats since 2019:
For speed: 31.13 average, 147.50 SAR
Versus turnover: 29.56 average, 143.77 SARHe is one of the best Indian T20 rackets, and still not a regular member of this team. Really fucking!
– Brasengate Day (CricPrasen) July 14, 2022
If you think Sanju Samsun deserves in the team
of admiration #SanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/KWr2s58TEO– turning off! 09 (@Avidhakad029) July 14, 2022
Rishabh Pant The last 7 runs in the T20i – 29, 5, 6, 17, 1*, 26, 1.
runs – 85
Average – 14.16
SR – 99.22.00Sanju Samsun last 7 runs in the T20i – 77, 18, 39, 0, 7, 27, 10.
Runs – 178
average – 25.42
SAR – 131.54One is backed and the other is struggling to be an even eleven from B team. pic.twitter.com/NiFlHsJgF4
– Jesus Christ (SavariiGiriGiri) 10 July 2022
No offense to anyone except choosing Shreyas iyer before Samson and Tripathi in the t20 and it serves no purpose at all, when I actually imagined Kohli hitting 3 in the World Cup!
– Gagan Chawla (@toecrushrzzz) July 14, 2022
Sanju Samson is the Dark Knight, isn’t he? Entries and exits are silent on team rosters these days.
– S. Sudarshanan (@Sudarshanan7) July 14, 2022
Where is Sanju Samsun? https://t.co/lFi0t58isK
– Sparsh telang (@cricketsparsh) July 14, 2022
Shreyas Ayer
They are not serious about restroom. Get Samson mfs who can play in Australia. Toilet not in Bangladesh that you are holding on to Iyer. https://t.co/IKXf5YEjL2– Balerion (@Manav_161) July 14, 2022
I can’t believe Sanju Samsun can’t find a place in any Indian team. Another great talent has disappeared….
– ⁷ (kurkureter) July 14, 2022
Had to try Rahul Tripathi and Sanju Samsun at Kishan & Iyer. The rest is perfect. Kohli rested. Sundar and Kronal play in the Royal London Cup. Shahbaz will be a good choice for Aksar. https://t.co/mbOxGGS1sQ
– (@ps26_11) July 14, 2022