Fans were shocked after Sanju Samson was not included in India’s T20I squad for the second and third matches of the England series and three subsequent ODIs. The right-hander was selected for the Indian team in the first T20I only as players like Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant will not be available due to the fifth Test rescheduled game against England. Samson has long been coming in and out of the Indian side. He was absent from India’s T20 World Cup qualifier last year but was relegated to the top of the home series against Sri Lanka and the West Indies. The Rajasthan Royals captain was also surprisingly eliminated from the home series against South Africa but was also named in the two-match T20I series in Ireland.
To the astonishment of the fans, Samson’s release came after a batter that beat his international 50 just for the chance he had against Ireland in the second T20I match in Dublin. Samson hit 77 off 42 balls to open the scoring for India in the match. His 176-run stand with Deepak Hooda (104) was the highest India ever in any wicket in the shortest format of the match.
Yes, to some extent it has been a difficult road for him. I think the electorate has sometimes been moved by the latest in performance. So when someone has done well in the IPL you tend to look for such players instead of going back to the previously selected players. At times, this is what happens to Samson. But no matter what happened in the past, I think Sanju should look forward now, “former Indian electoral chairman Saba Karim told the Hindustan Times when asked about Samson’s inconsistencies.
India played its last T20I series against South Africa and Ireland with the second fiddle team. Players like Rohit Sharma, ViratKohli, and Ravindra Jadeja were relieved and Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer played the South African series only. But they are all back in the England series squad. The team that played against Ireland, however, will be out of the first game against England as it starts the day after the end of the fifth Test.
India is expected to play three T20Is and three ODIs with the England team led by Jos Buttler as Eoin Morgan has announced his retirement a few days ago.
India Team 1st T20I: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, RuturajGaekwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, VenkateshIyer, YuzvendraChahal, AxarBhal Patel,, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
India 2nd and 3rd T20I Team: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Ishan Kishan, ViratKohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, ShreyasIyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, RavindraJadeja, YuzvendraChahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, JaspritBumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik
India ODI Team Three: Rohit Sharma (Captain), ShikharDhawan, Ishan Kishan, ViratKohli, Suryakumar Yadav, ShreyasIyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, RavindraJadeja, Shardul Thakur, YuzvendraChahal, Axar Patel , J Bum. , Prasidh Krishna, MohdShami, MohdSiraj, Arshdeep Singh.
