Team India has been announced for Champions Trophy 2025. 15 players have been selected for this tournament, in which the name of wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson is not there. A debate has erupted after Samson was not selected in the squad, because he has been in excellent form for the last few months. He has scored 3 centuries in T20. While playing in ODI for Team India, his average is 56. Now Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Shashi Tharoor has expressed his displeasure over this. After Samson did not get a place in Team India, he slammed the Kerala Cricket Association.

Shashi Tharoor angry at KCA

Shashi Tharoor mentioned the long-running dispute between KCA and Sanju Samson. He believes that Samson's career is being ruined because of KCA. He wrote on social media, 'Samson had already told KCA in writing that he will not be able to participate in the training camp of Vijay Hazare Trophy. Soon after this, he was dropped from the squad, as a result of which Sanju is out of the Indian team as well.

The sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson — the player wrote to KCA, in advance, regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments, and was promptly dropped from the squad — has now resulted in

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) January 18, 2025

Shashi Tharoor further mentioned Samson's excellent performance and told about his statistics. He wrote, 'A batsman who has the highest score of 212 in Vijay Hazare, averages 56.66 in ODIs for India, the cricket authorities are ruining his career in their arrogance. Were the KCA bosses not worried that they had decided to eliminate Kerala from the quarter-finals in Vijay Hazare by dropping Sanju? Where are they now?'

KCA had reprimanded Samson

After Samson's 3 centuries in T20 International, it was expected that he would be selected for the Champions Trophy. But this did not happen. It was claimed in some reports that this happened due to not playing in Vijay Hazare Trophy. KCA President Jayesh George scolded Samson in this matter and said that he cannot come and play as per his wish.

Talking to the English newspaper Indian Express, George said, I do not think that Samson was not selected because he was out of the tournament (Vijay Hazare). He was not selected in Vijay Hazare's squad because he sent just a one-line message that he would not be able to participate in the 30-member camp.

Fierce debate on Samson's selection

Sanju Samson was a big contender for the second wicketkeeper for the Champions Trophy. There was a dilemma regarding him and Rishabh Pant. Head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted to take Samson to the Champions Trophy. Whereas Ajit Agarkar and Rohit Sharma were in favor of selecting Pant. There was a lot of discussion on this but Rohit did not agree and Gambhir had to bow down. After this, Pant was selected as the second wicketkeeper in place of Samson.