On Monday (September 12), the BCCI announced India’s 15-man squad plus four reserve players who will fly to Australia for the T20 World Cup next month. India are hunting for their second T20 world title, having won the inaugural tournament back in 2007.
India have a solid squad with all the best players bar the injured Ravindra Jadeja available for the ICC showpiece even this year.
The squad was on expected lines and is similar to what India had named for the Asia Cup but with three exceptions – Bumrah and Harshal, both of whom were injured, are now fit and replaced Avesh and Bishnoi; and Jadeja is ruled out of the T20 World Cup with his like-for-like replacement Axar Patel getting a place in the squad.
Fans have accused BCCI of bias with Pant and favouritism against Samson
To note is that India could still make changes to the initially named squad until October 22, which is a day before they play their first match – vs Pakistan in Melbourne.
One selection (or non-selection) that has once again triggered fans and some experts is the exclusion of Sanju Samson. The Kerala batsman didn’t even find a place in the four reserves as Shreyas Iyer got the nod.
The management has put their faith in Rishabh Pant, who has had a disappointing, unfulfilled T20I career so far – 51 innings, average of 23 and strike rate of 126.
On the other hand, Sanju Samson has been in good touch this year: average of 30, strike rate of 148 across T20s in 2022. The RR skipper has done well in the recent chances he’s got for the Indian team, but failed to make the cut.
According to a source, Samson was not even considered for selection, with Pant and Dinesh Karthik being the confirmed wicket-keepers in selectors’ mind. According to a report in PTI, the selectors’ mind was already made up that they will select Pant – also because he’s the only left-hander in the batters – and Samson was not given a thought.
“Sanju in any case will be playing the ODIs against South Africa as selectors will maintain the continuity from the Zimbabwe tour. Also, there was never any discussions on dropping Pant. He is the only left-hander we have at the top and he can win a match on his day,” a BCCI source told PTI.
Only time will tell whether Pant could repay the selectors and management’s faith in him with performances at the T20 World Cup 2022.
Sanju Samson’s career is destroyed by BCCI politics. His batting looks effortless & dangerous when he is on song. BCCI is going to lose the service of a big player.#SanjuSamson#T20WorldCup#T20WorldCup2022#T20wc2022 pic.twitter.com/G27iNiBP4l
— ASH HU YAAR (@Vilen_08) September 12, 2022
They took Dinesh Karthik only to block Sanju’s place, they have no intention to play him, I seriously don’t know why they need failing LH Pant in the team even after 56 T20i failure & this is just an excuse,jadeja injury made it easy..axar isn’t left hander? #INDvsSL #AsiaCupT20 pic.twitter.com/HfoT8OaqEK
— Arya 👑 (@samson_arya) September 6, 2022
North india /south india ! #bccipolitics #SanjuSamsonforT20WC #SanjuSamson pic.twitter.com/sMlU07VLmt
— Amras kk (@amras_kk) September 12, 2022
India squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2022:
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh.
Reserves: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar.
