On Saturday, January 18, BCCI selectors announced the squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. One of the notable absentees from the squad is wicketkeeper Sanju Samson with KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant preferred ahead of him for the role of wicketkeeper-batsman.
The decision has really upset Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who has blamed Kerala Cricket Association for the omission of the Kerala star from the squad.
The sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson — the player wrote to KCA, in advance, regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments, and was promptly dropped from the squad — has now resulted in…
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 18, 2025
Shashi Tharoor blamed the KCA for dropping him from the squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 saying that it led to him getting dropped from the Indian team. Tharoor mentioned how Samson had informed KCA in advance about his inability to attend training camp for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy, but still KCA dropped him, which led to him getting dropped from the Indian side.
In his X Post, Tharoor wrote, “The sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson — the player wrote to KCA, in advance, regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments, and was promptly dropped from the squad — has now resulted in Sanju’s exclusion from the Indian team. A batsman who has a highest score of 212* in the Hazare, who averages 56.66 in ODIs for India (including a century in his last outing, against South Africa) is having his career destroyed by the egos of cricket administrators. Doesn’t it bother the KCA bosses that by leaving Sanju out, they ensured Kerala didn’t even reach the quarter-finals of the Hazare? Where does this leave him?”
