’Why no Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma?’ Shashi Tharoor questions India’s squad for Sri Lanka, takes a jibe at BCCI

After days of rumours and speculation, the BCCI finally announced India’s squad for the T20 and ODI series in Sri Lanka starting later this month. The series has attracted a lot of attention as it will be the first time that Gautam Gambhir will be in the coach’s chair, taking over from his former team-mate Rahul Dravid.

However, the BCCI’s squad selection has now been questioned by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over the omission of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma from the ODI and T20I squads respectively. Notably, Sharma had scored his maiden domestic century in the recent T20I series against Zimbabwe, while Samson had also scored a ton in the last ODI series against South Africa.

Taking a dig at the Indian selectors and the cricket board, Tharoor wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Interesting squad selection for India’s tour of Sri Lanka later this month. @IamSanjuSamson, who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while @IamAbhiSharma4, who hit a T20I century in the #INDvZIM series, has not been picked at all. Rarely has success in India colours mattered so little to the selectors! Good luck to the team anyway.”

Interesting squad selection for India’s tour of Sri Lanka later this month. @IamSanjuSamson, who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while @IamAbhiSharma4, who hit a T20I century in the #INDvZIM series, has not been picked at all. Rarely has success in… pic.twitter.com/PJU5JxSOx2

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 18, 2024

India’s squad for Sri Lanka series:

In another shocking announcement, coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have shown their faith in Suryakumar Yadav to lead the Men in Blue in T20 format after the retirement of skipper Rohit Sharma. The news comes as a surprise since it was Hardik Pandya who had captained the Indian team in T20 format for the last 1 – 11/2 years in the absence of senior players like Rohit and Virat Kohli but the all-rounder has now been sidelined from captaincy duties during the transition phase.

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.