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Sanju Samson’s ODI stats are better than Rishabh Pant, though with half the sample size.
BCCI ignored Sanju Samson for Champions Trophy 2025. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Sunil Gavaskar feels a combination of factors led to India choosing Rishabh Pant over Sanju Samson for the 2024-25 Champions Trophy, including the Delhi wicketkeeper-batter being a left-hander and a better gloveman.
India announced the squad on Saturday (January 18) alongside one for the preceding three-ODI series against England. Samson didn’t play either of India’s three ODIs in 2023 while Pant played one. Samson’s stats are better — an average of 56.66 compared to 33.50 for Pant — but his sample size is also nearly half (16 matches).
“Very tough because the man has been scoring hundreds and hundreds of runs,” Gavaskar told India Today. “There is no excuse to leave him out. But he was pitted against Rishabh Pant, who we all know can be a game-changer. Plus Pant is a left-hander and he is probably the better wicketkeeper, although he might not be the better batter than Samson.”
“Pant can change the game perhaps a little more than Samson and that’s reason why Samson missed out. But Samson must not feel dejected because all Indian cricket lovers will have sympathy for him for what he has achieved,” Gavaskar added.
In terms of T20 form, Samson had an excellent 2024 as he scored two centuries against South Africa while Pant didn’t impress much in the format.
VHT absence hurt Samson’s case?
Samson’s case was seemingly worsened by his failure to not play in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy — which began when Pant was away in Australia for Tests — for Kerala. He had missed the team’s preparatory camp and despite confirming his availability for the matches, wasn’t selected.
“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,” Kerala politician Shashi Tharoor wrote on X on Saturday.
“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?” he added.
