Former India wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik expressed his opinions about superstar player Rishabh Pant being chosen for the Champions Trophy 2025 team instead of Sanju Samson. Several fans and experts were shocked by Samson's snub despite his recent outstanding performance in both ODIs and T20Is. However, the selection committee chose Pant above him.
Karthik on Pant's selection
Karthik also expressed his opinions about the selection's choice, pointing out that Pant's left-hander status adds a new element to the batting order. Additionally, he reasoned that Samson's non-selection was mostly due to his absence from the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024–25.
"It almost had to happen, isn’t it? It was either Rishabh Pant or Sanju Samson. I know you can look at both of them as pure batters, but I think they have tilted towards Rishabh Pant for just the one reason: because he is a left-hander. He can give that differential variable that they are looking for in the batting order. But Sanju Samson was so close, and the fact that he didn’t play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I am sure, has played a part in that too," Karthik said on Cricbuzz’s HeyCBwithDK show.
Samson has scored three hundreds in his past six T20I innings, demonstrating his recent impressive form. In December 2023, he also hit a spectacular century in his final ODI match against South Africa. After 14 innings of ODI cricket, the 30-year-old has amassed 510 runs at a strike rate of 99.60, with an average of 56.66. Throughout his career, he has one hundred and three fifties in his career so far.
KCA president on Samson
In contrast, Pant has amassed 871 runs at an average of 33.50 from 31 games (27 innings) in ODIs, with 105 fifties. During the 2024 T20 World Cup, the southpaw was also chosen in the starting lineup before Samson. Jayesh George, the president of the Kerala Cricket Association, slammed Samson for failing to provide a valid excuse for missing Kerala's 30-member training camp before to the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024–25. The wicketkeeper was recently dismissed for 26 (20) in the opening T20I match against England.