The senior selection committee on Monday announced the Indian squad for the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe later this month. The name of India’s World Cup winning player Sanju Samson was not included in this.
The big question that arose was whether Samson has been rested or dropped. This confusion seems to be cleared regarding Samson, who was selected as ‘Player of the Tournament’ in the T20 World Cup in February-March.
The decision makers say that Samson has not been dropped from the team nor has the selection committee decided to move ahead with this opener. Samson will accompany the Indian team for the Asian Games in September. Not just Samson, the selection committee has also decided to rest Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar and Arshdeep Singh as the ODI series against England will end on July 19 and the first T20I against Zimbabwe will be played on July 23 in Harare. Samson is only a part of India’s T20 setup and his not being selected for this tour means Ishan Kishan has emerged as the first-choice wicketkeeper.
A report quoting Indian Board sources said that the selection committee generally likes to try new players on such short tours. In the past too, many Indian players have made their debut on Zimbabwe tours. Ajit Agarkar and Co. could not rest Shreyas Iyer as he has recently taken over the captaincy and they also want to give more chances to Tilak Verma, who is the vice-captain.
With Samson getting rest, Vaibhav Suryavanshi will get more opportunities in the Zimbabwe series. Due to the absence of Samson, there are again more left-handed batsmen in the batting line-up. Shreyas is the only right-handed batsman among the main batsmen, unless Prabhasimran gets a chance to play. Rinku Singh returns to the team as India lacked options for the finisher role on the UK tour in the absence of Hardik Pandya.
It is believed that the decision to give rest to Samson as well as Akshar and Arshdeep has been taken keeping in mind their busy season. These three players have been playing cricket continuously for the last 6 months without any major break. But giving rest to Samson, who plays only one format, is surprising, while the selector says that he has seen enough of Samson’s ability and his contribution to the team.