'I Choose to Keep Moving Forward': Sanju Samson Reacts to Omission From IND Squad For AUS ODIs

Flamboyant India wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson has reacted to his absence from India’s squad for the three-match ODI series against Australia. The BCCI announced the squad for the upcoming series where Samson failed to make the cut despite the senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya getting rested for the first two matches. Samson has also been left out of the ODI World Cup squad and was part of the Asia Cup team as a travelling reserve but flew back to India after KL Rahul passed the fitness Test.

“It is what it is !! I choose to keep moving forward,” Samson wrote on his Instagram post on Tuesday.

Several former cricketers also reacted to Samson’s snub from the ODI squad. Irfan Pathan shared his reaction on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“If I’m in the place of Sanju Samson right now, I will be very disappointed,” the cricketer-turned-commentator posted.

Former India batter Robin Uthappa also shared a post on X and 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 added.

Samson has a decent record in the 50-over format as he has scored 390 runs in 13 ODIs at an average of 55.71.

Meanwhile, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been recalled in India’s ODI squad for the Australia series while seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya along with Kuldeep Yadav have been rested for the first two games. In Rohit’s absence, KL Rahul will be leading in the first two matches. The senior stars will return in the final ODI match of the series. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad got deleted for the first two matches alongside Tilak Varma, who gets a longer rope in the ODI team.