Sanju Samson, India's keeper-batter, was one of the noticeable absences from the ODI squad for the forthcoming three-match home series against Sri Lanka.
On Tuesday, December 27, the national selectors announced the squads for the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka. While Samson was selected for the T20Is, he did not make the cut for the 50-over matches.
Notably, Samson was a member of India's white-ball squad in New Zealand in November. He was, however, benched for all three T20Is.
He eventually got a chance after being included in the first ODI of the series, but despite a respectable 36-run innings, he was omitted for the following two games. Furthermore, Samson was not selected for the Men in Blue's three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Bangladesh in December.
His omission from the ODI team came as a surprise, considering there is no Rishabh Pant in the ODI squad either.
The BCCI has chosen Ishan Kishan as wicketkeeper-batsman, with KL Rahul as his deputy. KL Rahul isn't a regular stumper but has played quite a few matches as wicketkeeper, the most recent being the ODI series against Bangladesh, where India was without Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan was not selected for the first two matches.
Following the squad announcement, several fans took to social media to criticize the team management for leaving Sanju Samson out of the ODI series against Sri Lanka. Many people thought Samson should have featured instead of KL Rahul, who has been struggling with form recently.
Here are some of the reactions on Twitter:
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