Sanju Samson's omission from India's ODI squad for the Australia tour has reignited debate about selection consistency.
Despite scoring a century in his last ODI appearance for India, Samson was overlooked in favor of Dhruv Jurel, who has been picked as the backup wicketkeeper.
Samson's ODI record-averaging over 55 with a strike-rate near 100 across 14 outings, is among the best for Indian keepers at this stage of their careers, yet he still finds himself left out.
The Indian team has also undergone a massive change as Shubman Gill was appointed captain for the ODI series, replacing Rohit Sharma. Although Rohit is part of the ODI squad, his leadership role is gone, despite winning the Champions Trophy as a captain. Along with that, Shreyas Iyer
was named as Gill's deputy for the ODI series, which also included Virat Kohli.
Why is Sanju Samson left out?
BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar gave the positional reason as the cause for Sanju's omission from the ODI squad. He mentioned Samson's previous century coming in at no. 3, and batted for Jurel as he bats in the middle-order. Interestingly, Sanju has also honed in the middle order for India, as he scored a half-century for the team against the Proteas in 2022.
For Samson, it's another missed opportunity to build on his momentum, particularly after proving his capability with an international hundred. His repeated omissions, despite strong numbers and recent success, continue to puzzle many fans and pundits. For now, Samson remains out of the ODI frame, while Jurel gets his chance to impress on Australian soil.
Despite missing out in the 50-over squad, the Kerala player has been named in the T20I side, which will be led by Suryakumar Yadav. The five-match T20I series will be played after the three-match ODI series.
India ODI Squad vs Australia
Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammad Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
