Sanju Samson’s place in the playing XI is the biggest bone of contention for the Indian cricket fans. Despite being a promising option, the 27-year-old has not got enough chances to display his potential. While Shikhar Dhawan, who is leading Team India in the 3-match ODI series in New Zealand and coach VVS Laxman faced the wrath of cricket fans after they axed Samson from the 2nd ODI’s Playing XI, he later explained that since India wanted a 6th bowler, Hooda was preferred over Samson.
After suffering the 7-wicket loss in the first ODI, Dhawan replaced Sanju Samson with Deepak Hooda, the decision however was not welcomed. The ire befell on Rishabh Pant who has not performed off late in white ball cricket. The Twitterattis accused the BCCI of ‘favouritism’ after Pant who got 15 in 23 balls was not dropped but Samson who scored 36 off 38 balls was not a part of the XI.
Sanju Samson who did play in the Asia Cup, the T20 World Cup did not even get a chance in the 3-match T20I series in New Zealand and captain Hardik Pandya had called it ‘unfortunate’.
Samson could only play in 6 T20 International matches this year in which he scored 179 runs at a strike rate of 158. Further, the Kerala-based batter scored 284 runs at an average of 71 in 10 ODIs played this year.