India vs Australia: "Sanju Samson Wasn't Selected Because...", Ex-India Star's Honest Analysis

The exclusion of wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson from the Indian cricket team squad for the ODI series against Australia and the Cricket World Cup 2023 has left a lot of fans and experts surprised. A number of ex-cricketers have expressed their disappointment at the decision taken by the team management but former India spinner Harbhajan Singh believes that India decided to not include Sanju in order to keep the team composition similar to that of the World Cup. In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan called the decision to not include Sanju 'strange' but also gave his own analysis behind his absence.

“Sanju Samson's exclusion has raised a lot of debates. If you average 55 in ODIs and still don't be a part of the squad, then definitely that's strange. But I think Sanju wasn't selected because India already had two wicketkeepers, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan. Both are also a part of the World Cup squad,” he said.

"If I have to choose between KL Rahul and Sanju Samson, I would definitely select Rahul because of the stability he provides at No.4, No.5. Samson is also a good player and can hit sixes at will, but the situation now is such that you can't have three wicketkeeper-batters in a team. It will be difficult to field all of them in the XI," Harbhajan added.

The Indian cricket team has opted for KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan as their wicket-keeping options for the World Cup. Both players have been playing in tandem for the past few weeks and the team management has shown immense support for both cricketers to provide solidity to the Indian middle-order.

As for Samson, who isn't a part of India's Asian Games squad too, a lot of hard work would need to be done if he is to make a comeback in the team in the coming