‘Favourite’ Rishabh Pant pips Sanju Samson again from India’s ODI squad for Sri Lanka series
Samson and Pant have both made the cut in the T20I squad but the selectors decided to pick someone who hasn’t played ODI cricket in 21 months.
Disappointment for Sanju Samson continues. The wicketkeeper batter, who’d scored a century in the last ODI he played, has been dropped from India’s 50-over squad for the upcoming 3-match series against Sri Lanka. His fans have long claimed that the Kerala batter has been unjustly treated, and this time they might be right.
Sanju Samson unfairly treated?
Just as MS Dhoni overshadowed the careers of other wicketkeepers during his time, Rishabh Pant’s return to international cricket last month has once again sidelined Samson. Having made his debut in July 2021, three years later, he has played just 16 matches. Pant has played a huge role in Sanju’s non-selection in white-ball, and in the past, it could have been easily justified as well. However, this time around, that’s not the case.
Despite being supremely talented, Pant has never performed at the level expected in ODIs. He’s played double the number of matches as Samson and averages 40% less. We have heard the Indian management talk about a pecking order, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Pant has won numerous matches for India, especially in Test cricket, but is it fair to drop a guy who averages 56 and scored a century in the last ODI he played for a player who’s played a 50-over game in 21 months?
Rishabh Pant vs Sanju Samson: ODI stats
| Player | Mat | Runs | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanju Samson | 16 | 510 | 56.66 | 99.6 | 1 | 3 |
| Rishabh Pant | 30 | 865 | 34.6 | 106.65 | 1 | 5 |
India ODI squad for Sri Lanka series
Rohit Sharma (c), Ꮪhubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.
Editors pick
Source link
