Lok Sabha MP and cricket's avid fan, Shashi Tharoor has lashed out at the BCCI's selection committee for the squads picked for the upcoming Sri Lanka tour. The team selected by the board had some surprise exclusions that dragged the attention of Tharoor. He raised his voice against the omission of Sanju Samson from ODIs and Abhishek Sharma from T20Is. While Samson made it to the squad for the shortest format series against Sri Lanka, Abhishek -- who scored a sensational century in the recently concluded five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe -- was overlooked for the tour.
"Interesting squad selection for India's tour of Sri Lanka later this month. @IamSanjuSamson , who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while @IamAbhiSharma4, who hit a T20I century in the #INDvZIM series, has not been picked at all. Rarely has success in India colours mattered so little to the selectors! Good luck to the team anyway," wrote Tharoor.
Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed to lead the Indian team in T20Is against Sri Lanka while Shubman Gill has been named his deputy for the three-match series. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been named in the ODI squad for the tour with the former also captaining the side. Gill is the vice-captain in the ODI series as well.
India squads for Sri Lanka tour -
India's T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.
India's ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.