Sunil Gavaskar Explains Reason Behind Sanju Samson’s Champions Trophy Snub, Says ‘The Man Has Been Scoring Hundreds…

Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has come up with his take on Sanju Samson’s absence from India’s 15-member Champions Trophy 2025 squad which was announced on Saturday.

Samson’s exclusion from the side raised eyebrows as India went for KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the two wicket-keeping options for the marquee tournament which begins on February 19.

Weighing in on the debate, Gavaskar suggested that the omission might have been a tough pill to swallow for Samson.

“Very tough because the man has been scoring hundreds and hundreds of runs. 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,” Gavaskar said in an interview with India Today.

However, Gavaskar explained the logic behind the selectors picking Pant over Samson, labelling the former as a “better keeper”.

“Pant can change the game perhaps a little more than Samson and that’s the 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.

The 30-year-old has been in and out of the ODI team as the selectors have often ignored him despite his stellar record in the 50-over format.

Having made his international debut for India way back in 2015, Samson has played just 16 ODIs in nearly a decade, scoring 510 runs at an average of 56.66 and a strike rate of 99.60 with a hundred and three fifties to show for his efforts.

India’s squad for Champions Trophy 2024:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja

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