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A day before the second T20I between India and Sri Lanka, Men in Blue's star wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson was ruled out of the three-match series owing to a knee injury which he sustained while fielding in the first match on Tuesday (January 3).
However, he couldn't make the most of the opportunity in the first T20I as he was sent to pavilion at the score of 5 as he was making a return to the India fold after missing the ODI series against Bangladesh. Vidarbha's star wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, who shone with the bat for Punjab Kings in IPL 2022, was included in India's squad as Samson's replacement.
"Samson hurt his left knee while attempting to field a ball near the boundary ropes during the first T20I," a BCCI release read on Wednesday.
“He was taken for scans and a specialist opinion this afternoon in Mumbai by the BCCI Medical Team and has been advised rest and rehabilitation,” the released further added.
Meanwhile, right ahead of the second T20I against Sri Lanka on Thursday (January 5), Samson put out a post on his Instagram handle. He posted his own picture from the first T20I and wrote, “All is well. Z you zooon”. Moments after, India's stand-in T20I skipper Hardik Pandya reacted to his post by putting out a heart emoji in reply while another star batter Shikhar Dhawan commented," get well soon bro."
Samson is believed to have picked up the injury in the 13th over of Sri Lanka's innings in the first T20I on Tuesday. His knee appeared to have got stuck on the turf as he tried to put in a slide at deep third to stop a boundary. Samson immediately left the field.
The Kerala-born batter, who made his India debut in 2015, has so far played 11 ODIs and 17 T20Is for the Men in Blue. However he hasn't been a regular in the Team India squad given his topsy-turvy show with the bat.
