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Only one of Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant can make it to India’s 2025 Champions Trophy squad, according to India legend
Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant. (Picture Credit: ANI)
Former spinner Harbhajan Singh wants Sanju Samson to be selected ahead of Rishabh Pant for the wicketkeeper spot in India’s squad for the 2025 Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the UAE. Harbhajan feels the fact that Samson played India’s last white-ball series against South Africa should give him the nod.
Samson featured in all four T20Is against the Proteas, scoring two centuries and two ducks. However, in India’s last ODI — the format for the Champions Trophy — series against Sri Lanka in 2024, KL Rahul kept wickets for the first two matches while Pant did so in the third. Samson wasn’t selected for the squad.
“I think one among Sanju Samson or Rishabh Pant should be picked. I feel Sanju should be preferred because he had played in South Africa. Rishabh played well in Australia, but it was a long tour, so if he is rested, it’s not a big thing,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
Samson and Pant have similarly failed to cement their place in more than one format in international cricket. While the former now seems like a sure-shot starter in T20Is, the latter is one of India’s first names on the team sheet in Tests.
In ODIs, Samson has played 16 matches, scoring 510 runs at an average of 56.66 with a century and three fifties to his name. Pant, on the other hand, has played 31 matches for 871 runs at 33.50 with one century and five fifties.
‘Axar ready to fulfill Jadeja role’: Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan also said he’d pick Axar Patel over Ravindra Jadeja for the Champions Trophy squad for he believes the former can take over the spin all-rounder’s role from the latter.
“I have chosen Axar Patel over Ravindra Jadeja. I think Axar is ready to fulfill the role that Jadeja has done for so many years,” he added.
Jadeja’s ODI career is hanging by a thread. He’s 37 and multiple media reports have suggested that the BCCI is likely to see the Champions Trophy as the right time to move on from him.
Axar’s stocks have been rising sharply in white-ball cricket. He played a crucial knock in the 2024 T20 World Cup final. He has played 60 ODIs so far, picking 64 wickets and scoring 568 runs.
