Would an average of 55.71 be enough for a player to get into the national team in the ODI format? In usual circumstances, yes, but things haven't quite been usual for wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson. Despite his brilliant shows in the 50-over format for the Indian team over 13 games, Samson finds himself out of the Indian squad, not just for the ODI World Cup but also the 3-match series against Australia. As his fans continue to criticise the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee over the decision, even some former stars are showing sympathy for Samson.
Robin Uthappa, who won the T20 World Cup with the Indian team in 2007, feels it's tough to be in Samson's shoes at the moment.
He post took to X (formerly Twitter), after the BCCI announced India squad for the 3-match ODI series against Australia, by storm. Uthappa wrote: "No one would wanna be in Sanju's shoes right now!!"
"The justification could be that even if he was in the squad he wouldn't get a game. But not even being in the squad would be quite disheartening," Uthappa wrote in another tweet.
While Samson found himself out of the team, Ravichandran Ashwin made a return to India's ODI squad, having last featured in the 50-over format for the team in January last year. Ashwin's return came as a result of an injury to Axar Patel.
While the left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder isn't ruled out of the ODI World Cup yet, there are chances of him being replaced by Ashwin in the showpiece event too.