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Despite scoring a century in his last ODI match for India against South Africa, Sanju Samson was ignored by BCCI selectors for a place in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad.
Dinesh Karthik explains why Rishabh Pant was preferred over Sanju Samson for a place in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Sanju Samson has been in red-hot form for Team India these days. The 30-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala has scored three centuries in his last seven T20Is, and in his last 50-over match, which was played against South Africa in Paarl on December 21, 2023, he scored 108 runs. But despite his good performances with the bat, Samson was not considered for a place in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad. Rishabh Pant was preferred by Indian selectors as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter, and KL Rahul will be his back-up. The decision to ignore Samson once again came as a shock for many fans around the world, but according to former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, it was bound to happen.
Karthik feels there was a direct competition between Pant and Samson for the wicketkeeper-batter’s position, and Pant was considered because of him being a left-handed batter.
“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.
It is believed that Samson’s decision to skip the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Kerala irked BCCI selectors, and he was not considered for a place in the Indian team. Samson, who was a member of India’s T20 World Cup 2024-winning team, played Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy matches for his state team but was controversially not picked for the premier domestic 50-over tournament.
It was reported that Samson skipped the Kerala team’s three-day practice camp in Wayanad, which is why he was not picked in the squad.
Pant’s record in ODIs
Rishabh Pant made his ODI debut for India against West Indies in Guwahati on October 21, 2018, and since then has played 31 matches and has 871 runs to his name. He scored his first ODI century against England in Manchester on July 17, 2022, and also has five fifties to his name.
