On September 19, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the ODI series. After Rohit Sharma led India’s Asia Cup 2023 triumph, he was rested alongside Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Kuldeep Yadav for the first two ODIs. Once again, India’s out-of-favour wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson did not get a chance in the squad for a major event.
Immediately after the squad announcement, Samson’s fans took to social media to express their disappointment. On the next, the Kerala-born batter posted a photo of himself on Instagram reacting to the snub. Samson’s post read: “It is what it is!! I choose to keep moving forward”.
In the last ODI he got to bat, the 28-year-old scored a half-century against West Indies on August 1, 2023. Under Hardik Pandya's captaincy, he walked out to bat at no.4 He hit four sixes and two fours in his quickfire 41-ball 51.
Despite being in and out of the side several times, Samson has scored 390 runs from 12 ODI innings at an average of 55.71 including three half-centuries.
Samson is also not a part of India’s Asian Games 2023 squad. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad who is captain of India's Asian Games 2023 squad was included in the squad for the first two ODIs. Also, the team management continued to back Suryakumar Yadav who has been a pale shadow of himself in the ODI format.
Suryakumar failed to convert starts into big scores on the West Indies tour. He got a chance to prove himself in the Asia Cup clash against Bangladesh where he got out after scoring 26 runs in the unsuccessful run chase.
He has scored 537 runs from 25 innings at an average of 24.40 including two half-centuries. His last half-century in the format came against West Indies in February 2022.
India’s ODI 17-member squad for third ODI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar
MORE ON SPORTS TAK
IND vs AUS: Check date and time of Team India's squad announcement for home ODI series against Australia
Gautam Gambhir lauds MS Dhoni for prioritising team over personal milestones, says 'I feel due to captaincy, MS sacrificed the batter in him'
