Sad Story of Sanju Samson’s Exclusion
India will start its campaign in the Champion Trophy 2025 on 20 February, with the Indian team announced on 18 January. The list did not include Sanju Samson, a player who scored a century in the last series played in November. Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) President Jayesh George made a statement regarding Samson’s exclusion, prompting a strong reaction from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
A Scathing Attack on Social Media
Shashi Tharoor expressed his views on social media platform X, stating that Samson was dropped from the team after he informed the KCA about his inability to attend a training camp ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Tharoor argued that this decision led to Samson’s exclusion from the Indian ODI team.
Tharoor highlighted Samson’s impressive ODI record, with an average of 56.66, including his last century against South Africa. Tharoor questioned the KCA’s decision, asking if they realized that Kerala’s poor performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was partly due to Samson’s exclusion.
The sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson — the player wrote to KCA, in advance, regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments, and was promptly dropped from the squad — has now resulting in…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 18, 2025
Attitude Issue Behind Exclusion
Kerala Cricket Association President Jayesh George revealed that Sanju Samson’s attitude was the main reason for his exclusion from the Champions Trophy team. George explained that Samson informed the KCA about his unavailability through a message before the team selection for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The announced team for the Champions Trophy includes Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja.