At the moment, Sanju Samson has been in scintillating form for Team India. The Kerala-based 30-year-old wicketkeeper batsman is fresh on the heels of some great batting displays, three centuries in his last seven T20I matches, and a brilliant 108 in his last one-day international against South Africa in Paarl on December 21, 2023. But despite this amazing run with the bat, Samson was left out of India’s 2025 Champions Trophy squad. Pant was chosen by the selectors to be the wicketkeeper, with Rahul as his understudy. For many fans, it was one more time that Samson was left out, which came as a major shock worldwide. Former Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has said this was bound to happen.
Karthik felt there was an open contest between Pant and Samson for the wicketkeeper-batter’s slot, and Pant was considered for the spot due to him being a left-handed batter.
“It also had to happen, didn’t it? It was one of the two: Rishabh Pant or Sanju Samson. Although both of them would be looked upon as pure batters, I think they tilted towards Rishabh Pant because only of this reason: because he is a left-handed batter. He could provide that differential variable that they are looking for in the batting order. But Sanju was so close, and he did not play the Vijay Hazare Trophy, I am sure that has played a part in that as well,” Karthik said while appearing on Cricbuzz’s HeyCBwithDK show.
Samson’s decision to pull out of the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Kerala was reportedly displeasing to the BCCI selectors, and he was thus overlooked for a position on the Indian team. Samson, the reigning T20 World Cup-winning team of India, was playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 matches for his state team but controversially was not selected for the dignified domestic 50-over tournament.
Samson apparently missed the three-day preparatory camp Wayanad of the Kerala team, and this is why he was not picked.
He made his ODI debut against the West Indies in Guwahati on October 21, 2018, scoring 871 runs from 31 matches with a century and five fifties. His first century came off the bat against England on July 17, 2022, in Manchester.