Sanju Samson scored a century for India in his last ODI match against South Africa in Paarl on December 21, 2023, but despite that, he was not named in India’s 15-member squad announced for the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka. During their tour of the island nation, India will face Sri Lanka in three ODIs under Rohit Sharma’s leadership on August 2, 4, and 7.
Rishabh Pant, who hasn’t played an ODI for India since November 2022, and KL Rahul were included in the side, and both are likely to find a place in India’s playing XI. Samson’s absence from India’s squad came as a surprise for many fans and former greats of the game, as he was India’s backup wicketkeeper-batter during the 2024 T20 World Cup and has good numbers in ODIs as well.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo on Sunday (July 21), Rahul’s return was the reason for Samson’s absence from the ODI squad, and in the future, he might face strong competition from one of his Rajasthan Royals teammates, who is seen as a backup wicketkeeper across formats.
“While the selectors have named both Pant and Rahul as wicketkeepers for the ODI leg of the Sri Lanka tour, Dhruv Jurel, who made his India debut during the England Test series earlier this year, is understood to be seen as the main backup keeper across formats. Rahul’s return is also the reason Sanju Samson could not find a spot in the 50-overs squad for the Sri Lanka series, despite having scored a century in his most recent ODI,” an ESPNCricinfo report stated.
After impressing with his performance in the last three Tests of the five-match series between India and England earlier this year, Jurel earned his maiden India T20I call-up in July 2024 for the five-match series against Zimbabwe. He made his T20I debut in the first match of the series at Harare Sports Club on July 6 but was only able to score six runs. He didn’t get a chance to bat in the second T20I, which India won by 100 runs in Harare on July 7.
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