Former India captain Kris Srikkanth criticized the selectors for leaving Sanju Samson out of India’s ODI squad for the upcoming Australia tour. While KL Rahul remains the primary wicket-keeper, Dhruv Jurel was chosen as the backup, bypassing Samson. The Kerala-born keeper has impressive ODI stats, averaging over 56 with a strike rate of 99.60 across 16 matches.
Despite this, Samson has not featured in an ODI since his century in the series-deciding match in South Africa in 2023. Commenting on Samson’s omission for the Australian series, Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel:
“Again very unfair. Sanju should have been there, considering he scored a century in his last ODI. So everyday the reason keeps changing for each individual. One day you make him bat at 5, then another day you make him open. Sometimes you send him at 7 or 8. How did Dhruv Jurel suddenly come in? Sanju may or may not feature in the 11 but he has to be given the first right of refusal.”
He further added: “By making such selections constantly, they are confusing the players themselves. Even we aren’t sure everyday what the selection will be. Suddenly Yashasvi Jaiswal is there and then next minute he won’t be there. There is only one permanent member – Harshit Rana. Nobody knows why he is there in the team. By chopping and changing all the time, they’ll dent the confidence of the players.”
“You Can’t Pick Some Despite Performance And Drop Others Despite Failure”– Kris Srikkanth
Kris Srikkanth criticized the selection process for India’s white-ball squads ahead of the Australia tour, expressing strong disapproval of the choices of Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy in both teams.
“You don’t pick some irrespective if they do well and take others even if they don’t. Best is to be like Harshit Rana and be a constant yes-man to Gambhir to be selected. You should start building towards the 2027 World Cup. But I feel they’ve not. If you pick Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy among the probabilities, then you can wave goodbye to the trophy,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
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