Legendary Sunil Gavaskar said Sanju Samson was unfortunate to be snubbed from the India squad for the ICC Champions Trophy. Samson was in red-hot form for India and scored two hundreds in the T20I series against South Africa, however, he couldn't make it to the Champions Trophy squad as he was snubbed for Rishabh Pant. Gavaskar lauded Samson for consistent performances but said he was pitted against Rishabh Pant, who is a better wicketkeeper and the game changer.

“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.

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

Samson is one of the most talented cricketers in India, and he carries immense experience in domestic cricket and IPL, however, he hasn't been a regular member of the Indian cricket team, mainly because of the stiff competition. He has been in and out of the team, but did well in most of the opportunities he got. Speaking about his ODI record, Samson has scored 510 runs at an average of 56.66 and a strike rate of 99.60 with a hundred and three fifties.

His highest ODI score of 108 came against South Africa in Paarl, which was also his last ODI for India.

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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