Not Suryakumar Yadav But Sanju Samson Should Have Led India Against Australia: Senior Congress Leader

Sanju Samson‘s absence from the India squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia has surprised many. With most of India’s senior and first-choice players rested for the series after playing in the recently concluded ICC World Cup, the selectors have named a new-look team.

Suryakumar Yadav has been given the responsibility of leading the inexperienced team while Ruturaj Gaikwad has been named as his deputy for the first three games. Shreyas Iyer will join the squad for the fourth and fifth T20I as vice-captain. For the middle order, the selectors have selected the likes of Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, and Shivam Dube along with stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav.

There was no place for Sanju Samson even in the second-string side. This is the second huge blow for the wicketkeeper-batter in recent times as the selectors have made it pretty clear that they are not willing to give him any more chances. He was also snubbed for the Asian Games where the BCCI had sent a second-string side under the captaincy of Gaikwad.

Congress leader miffed with Sanju Samson’s absence:

Just before the Asian Games, Sanju Samson was getting a chance in India’s limited-overs teams regularly. However, things have changed in recent times and it looks like the Kerala star has completely fallen down the pecking order. The treatment meted out to him, however, has not gone down well with many including senior congress leader and an ardent cricket fan Shashi Tharoor.

Soon after the squad was announced, Tharoor took to X to criticize the decision of not picking Sanju Samson for the team. He stated that not only should the batter have been selected, but he should also have been made the captain due to his experience. He also questioned the absence of spinner Yuzvendra Chahal as he wrote:

“This is truly inexplicable. @IamSanjuSamson should have not just been selected, he should have led the side in the absence of all the seniors. His captaincy experience with Kerala and @rajasthanroyals is more current than SKY’s.

“Our selectors need to explain themselves to the cricket-loving public. And why no @yuzi_chahal either?”

This is truly inexplicable. @IamSanjuSamson should have not just been selected, he should have led the side in the absence of all the seniors. His captaincy experience with Kerala and @rajasthanroyals is more current than SKY's. Our selectors need to explain themselves to the… https://t.co/W251o89jzs

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 21, 2023

India squad for Australia T20I series:

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.

IND vs AUS T20I Series Schedule

November 23: First T20, Visakhapatnam
November 26: Second T20, Thiruvananthapuram
November 28: Third T20, Guwahati
December 1: Fourth T20, Raipur
December 3: Fifth T20, Bengaluru