"Surprised to say the least" - Wasim Jaffer makes cryptic post on absentees from India's T20I and ODI squads against Sri Lanka
Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer is known for his humorous and cryptic posts on social media. He recently made one such post for the Indian squads that were announced for the T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka. The tour will begin on July 27, with T20Is to be played first.
Jaffer posted a photo of Bollywood stars Sanjay Dutt and Abhishek Bachchan, indirectly expressing his surprise at two players who missed out on a place in the ODI and T20I squads.
Sanjay Dutt is admirably called 'Sanju,' thereby indicating Sanju Samson's absence from the ODI squad, while Abhishek Bachchan's first name was an indication towards Abhishek Sharma, who was not selected in the T20I squad.
Samson scored an ODI hundred in his last ODI innings against South Africa in Paarl. Abhishek also smashed a hundred off just 46 balls in the recently concluded series against Zimbabwe. Here's what Wasim Jaffer wrote in the caption of his cryptic post:
"Surprised to say the least. #SLvIND"
Suryakumar Yadav has been named as India's new T20I captain, while Shubman Gill will be his deputy.
T20I Squad against Sri Lanka: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman 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.
Shashi Tharoor expresses surprise at India's squad omission
Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor also took to X to express his surprise at the omission of Sanju Samson from the ODI squad and Abhishek Sharma from the T20I squad. Here's what he wrote on X:
"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 #INDvsSL"
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have made themselves available for the ODI series, while Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. Fresh faces like Riyan Parag and Harshit Rana have received their maiden ODI call-up.
ODI Squad against Sri Lanka: Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman 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.