"Retire & play for USA, Netherlands or Ireland & face India as captain in World Cup 2027" - Fans react as Sanju Samson gets ignored for Australia T20s
Team India selectors have once again ignored Sanju Samson. They have decided not to select him for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday (November 20) announced the squad for the home series, which starts on Thursday. All the senior players have been rested for these games. The No. 1 ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav will lead the Indian team in the series, with Ruturaj Gaikwad as deputy.
Here is Team India's T20I squad for the five-match series vs Australia:
Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar.
Several Indian cricket fans were furious upon seeing the absence of Sanju Samson in the T20I squad. Many claimed that the selectors made a grave mistake by snubbing him for Suryakumar Yadav in the recently concluded 2023 World Cup.
One fan was utterly disappointed with the development and said "players out of nowhere" were "coming into the setup to replace him." He also advised Samson "to retire himself and play for USA, Netherlands or Ireland and face India as captain in ODI World Cup 2027."
Here are a few more fan reactions on Twitter after Sanju Samson's non-selection in the Indian T20I squad for the upcoming series against Australia at home:
Full schedule of the 5-match T20I series between India and Australia
1st T20I - Date: November 23 | Venue: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam | Time: 7:00 PM (IST)/ 01:30 PM (GMT)
2nd T20I - Date: November 26 | Venue: Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram | Time: 7:00 PM (IST)/ 01:30 PM (GMT)
3rd T20I - Date: November 28 | Venue: Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati | Time: 7:00 PM (IST)/ 01:30 PM (GMT)
4th T20I - Date: December 1 | Venue: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur | Time: 7:00 PM (IST)/ 01:30 PM (GMT)
5th T20I - Date: December 03 | Venue: M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru | Time: 7:00 PM (IST)/ 01:30 PM (GMT)