ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Sanju Samson's immediate inclusion ordered

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has expressed concerns over the exclusion of Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal from India's squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Harbhajan feels that Samson's batting style suits the ODI format and should have been in the squad.

He also feels that India could have selected a legspinner in their squad in order to add some variety to their attack. Samson and Chahal were two notable absentees from India's squad as the selectors didn't make any surprise inclusion.

Both of them have a good record in ODIs but the intense competition in the team made it almost impossible to get into the squad. India preferred to go with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the two wicketkeepers instead of going for Samson.

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Harbhajan Singh on Sanju Samson's absence from ICC Champions Trophy 2025

During a conversation with Switch, Harbhajan Singh opened up about the absence of Sanju Samson from India's squad for the Champions Trophy. The former India spinner reminded everyone of his brilliant average in ODIs and was surprised by his absence.

“Truly, I feel bad for him (Sanju Samson). He scores runs but he is dropped. I know you can only select 15, but I feel his batting suits the format. He has an average of 55-56, but he isn't even there as a second wicketkeeper. When we talk about selecting him, people ask, in whose place? Places can be made,” Harbhajan noted.

Sanju Samson has played 16 ODIs so far and scored 510 runs at an average of 56.66 and a strike rate of 99.60 with 1 hundred and 3 fifties. His only hundred came in South Africa in a winning cause when he smashed a brilliant 108 off 114 balls in Paarl.

He was recently involved in a tussle with his state association Kerala Cricket Association due to which he could not take part in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. That hampered his chances of making it to India's squad for the Champions Trophy.

Sanju Samson T20I numbers

While Sanju Samson is not in the ODI team, he remains a crucial part of India's T20I team. He struck two consecutive hundreds respectively against Bangladesh and South Africa last year. He has scored three hundreds in his last six T20I innings and has established himself as the mainstay of the T20I team.

Samson has played 38 T20Is and scored 836 runs at an average of 27.86 and a strike rate of 154.24. He has struck 3 hundreds and 2 fifties so far in the format. While the shorter format remains his favorite, he can also be a valuable format in ODIs in the future.

Harbhajan Singh speaks on Yuzvendra Chahal's absence

Harbhajan Singh was also surprised by Yuzvendra Chahal's exclusion from the Indian squad. The offspinner reckons that Chahal could have been there in place of a left-arm spinner as he could have added some variety to the bowling attack.

“Sanju (Samson) isn't there. Yuzvendra Chahal isn't there, too. You've picked four spinners, two of them are left-armers. You could've included a leg-spinner for variation, too. Chahal is a superb bowler. I don't know what wrong he did that he doesn't fit this team,” Harbhajan said.

Yuzvendra Chahal has an excellent record in the ODI format with 121 wickets in 72 matches at an average of 27.13 and an economy rate of 5.26. The legspinner once formed a deadly spin combination with the left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav but has been out of contention for quite some time now.