In the latest developments, Sanju Samson‘s hopes of donning the Indian jersey again received a big boost as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to add him to the squad for the five-match T20I series against West Indies.
The apex Indian board added Samson’s name on the day of the first T20I at Brain Lara Stadium in Trinidad, while KL Rahul‘s name was excluded from the outfit. Notably, Samson wasn’t a part of the initial roster for the Indian team, while Rahul’s participation was subject to him proving fitness.
However, it seems that Rahul, who had tested positive for Covid-19 about a week ago, have failed to recover in time. As per the roster on the BCCI website, Samson has replaced the Karnataka batter.
Since his debut in 2015, Samson has played 14 T20Is for India, scoring 251 runs from 13 innings at an average of 19.30. He recently smashed his maiden half-century in the format during the second T20I against Ireland. The Kerala batter scored 77 off 42 deliveries and formed a match-winning partnership with Deepak Hooda in India’s nail-biting 4-run win.
India squad for West Indies:
Rohit Sharma(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshal Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shreyas Iyer, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson