Sanju Samson continues to crop up every time India plays a white ball game. The 27-year-old Kerala cricketer has been in and out of the playing eleven and was dropped again for the second and third ODI match against New Zealand even as the team fielded the likes of Rishabh Pant in the eleven. Meanwhile, his fans raged on social media, accusing the BCCI of casteism and what not.
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Here, it must be noted that Samson led Rajasthan Royals to the final in IPL 2022 and was subsequently dropped despite being picked for Ireland and England tour. He eventually found himself out of contention for T20 World Cup only to be picked again for New Zealand tour where he warmed the bench for T20Is.
However, he was picked for 1st ODI where he scored 36 off 38 balls before being dropped again. As of now, he was also not picked for Bangladesh tour. Former cricketer Wasim Jaffer also lend his support to Kerala cricketer.
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“Yes, I feel Samson, because he is in such a good form and he is not getting consistent run. I feel he deserves this. Even in T20 cricket or ODI cricket, he must have a consistent run of let’s say ten games,” he told ESPN Cricinfo.
“When you have a large talent pool and there are a lot of options, it may cause trouble for you. The management must chalk out 18-20 players that this our core team and focus on them,” he added.
While addressing a post-match presser, the hot topic was raised again and Dhawan made it clear that Pant is a match winner while Sanju will have to wait for his chance.
“Overall, you have to see the larger picture and who is your match winner. You analyse and your decisions are based on that,” Dhawan said at the post-match interaction.
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Pant’s scores in his last nine innings across the two white-ball formats read 10, 15, 11, 6, 6, 3, 9, 9 and 27.
Dhawan said it’s ‘not difficult’ to be in the captain’s shoes while making tricky choices, such as picking Pant over Samson.
“Of course, Sanju Samson has been doing really well in whatever opportunity he got. But sometimes you got to wait for your chances because the other player has done well, and we know based on his (Pant’s) skill that he’s a match-winner. So, you need to back him when he’s not doing well,” Dhawan said.
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