Ireland Cricket Board offers Sanju Samson to represent their country; Here's what the cricketer said

Written By DNA Web Team | Updated: Dec 11, 2022, 11:29 PM IST

The 28-year-old recently registered for the first two Ranji Trophy games for Kerala. After three years, he is finally playing red-ball cricket again.

Sanju Samson, the ace wicketkeeper batter for the Indian team, has consistently been ignored by management despite his outstanding performances whenever he plays for India.

He has been passed over by BCCI for the T20 World Cup in 2022, and now he was left out of the squad for the current series against Bangladesh. He was previously chosen for the New Zealand tour, although he only got to participate in one game.

Sanju Samson, a Rajasthan Royal player who excelled in the Indian Premier League, played an outstanding captaincy role. And now as per a report by Cricinformer, the Ireland cricket team is making him an offer. Sanju Samson was given the opportunity to represent Ireland in international cricket by the country's cricket president, who also guaranteed that Sanju would captain the team and participate in all of its games.

“We will let him play all the matches if he is in our national team. He is a very impressive batter and he is one of the rare talent. We provide him an offer to play the matches from our national team. Our team required a skipper and batter like him. If the Indian team is overlooking him then he can join us, we respect him and make him play every match,” said Ireland’s cricket president.

Sanju said, "Thank you very much," in response to the president of Ireland's invitation. I can understand that sometimes we have to wait, and I am currently sitting here waiting for my selector's call, but my dream is still to play for the Indian team, and I will never play for any other country.

“First of all, I want to thank Ireland’s cricket president for considering me for this role but I can’t accept his offer. I started my cricketing to play for Indian national cricket team. I don’t want to play for any other nation or can’t even think to play for another nation. I can’t accept this offer and I want to say sorry to Ireland’s cricket president.” Said, Sanju Samson

“Although, I haven’t got plenty of chances in the Indian cricket team but I will work hard and have self believe and sometimes the combination of team doesn’t allow your place in the playing XI but it doesn’t mean I am sad,” he added.

The three-match ODI series against South Africa included Samson who appeared to be hitting well. In the first ODI, which the Men in Blue narrowly lost, he came close to giving India the victory. Samson's unbeaten 86 runs contributed to India's getting within nine runs of winning the match, but his efforts were in vain as India fell short. In the ensuing two One-Day Internationals against South Africa, he scored, respectively, an unbeaten 30 and 2 runs. India won the series 2-1 by coming out on top.

The 28-year-old recently registered for the first two Ranji Trophy games for Kerala. After three years, he is finally playing red-ball cricket again. Nevertheless, Samson is anticipated to return to the Indian team in January for the series against Sri Lanka. Although a berth in the starting lineup is not certain, India's decision to rejig under Hardik Pandya puts him unquestionably in the running for the T20s.

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