“Mumbai Lobby Does Injustice”: Sanju Samson’s Exclusion Fires Up Twitter

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Jatin Khandelwal

 

The revelation of the Indian team’s playing XI for the first ODI against West Indies on Thursday was perhaps more keenly anticipated among the fans than the match itself. For one man: Sanju Samson.

So it was not a surprise that fans were angry, infuriated, frustrated, and exasperated. But it was a bit of a surprise that Sanju Samson was excluded as Rohit Sharma picked Ishan Kishan in the XI as the wicket-keeper who would bat in the middle-order.

First, the stats. Sanju Samson had a prolific 2022 in ODIs: in 9 ODI innings last year, Samson cracked 284 runs, remaining not out 5 times, at an average of 71 and strike rate of 105, playing the perfect role of a middle-order batsman who can stabilize the innings as well as finish with aplomb and fireworks. His best came against a quality South African bowling attack – 86* off 63 balls, almost finishing off a big chase.

Ishan Kishan, too, had his moments last year when he cracked a double century – against Bangladesh on a flat Chattogram pitch, though nothing to take away from the left-hander. However, after that performance, Kishan sort of faltered in ODIs: in 4 innings this year, he managed only 33 runs.

2 Reasons Why Sanju Samson Should Be Picked For The Asia Cup 2023

While Indian fans were expecting the team management to give Sanju Samson a consistent run in the ODI side – given the injuries to Pant and KL Rahul, and also Shreyas Iyer – Rohit Sharma has selected his Mumbai Indians teammate Ishan Kishan. One compelling reason for Kishan’s selection is his being a left-hander in a batting order dominated by right-handers.

Exclusion from the first ODI of Sanju Samson enraged the fans on social media:

https://twitter.com/shibi_meppayour/status/1684554174397296642?s=20

https://twitter.com/dwaith7/status/1684553851381379073?s=20

https://twitter.com/RRfanforever/status/1684443155100467200?s=20

India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field in the 1st ODI vs West Indies.

Here are the two teams:

West Indies (Playing XI): Shai Hope(w/c), Kyle Mayers, Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Yannic Cariah, Dominic Drakes, Jayden Seales, Gudakesh Motie

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Mukesh Kumar

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