The former captain and opening batter of India, Sunil Gavaskar, has highlighted the ‘better wicket-keeper’ for the blue brigade between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson, as the former edged past the Kerala batter in the national squad for the Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to take place from February 19.
Gavaskar reckoned that Pant is better than Samson with the gloves behind the stumps and gives India an advantage because of being a left-handed batter. The national selectors have retained Pant and veteran KL Rahul as their two wicket-keepers in the squad. Samson, who smashed a century in his last ODI, failed to find a spot in the squad.
Gavaskar, during a discussion on India Today, claimed that it would be unfair for Samson to be up against Pant, who has now been a consistent member of the senior side across formats.
Sunil Gavaskar explains Rishabh Pant’s selection for India in Champions Trophy 2025
Samson has smacked 510 runs in 14 ODI innings at an average of 56.66 and a strike rate of around 100, shouldering on three half-centuries and one century. Pant, on the flip of the coin, has drilled 2948 runs in the 50-over format in 75 innings at an average of 42.11 with the help of six centuries and 15 half-centuries at the best score of unbeaten 159 runs.
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“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.“ The former opening batter for India expressed during the interaction.
The southpaw, Pant, has celebrated only a solitary hundred in the 50-over format that came against England in 2022. Gavaskar felt that Pant’s skills to swing the game toward India from any position in a few deliveries kept him ahead of Samson.
“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.”
Rishabh was part of India’s five-match series in the longest format in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He wasn’t in a decent touch for the entire trip, but on a tricky surface at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) during the fifth and final Test of the series, where hardly any batter could score runs across the two teams, Pant showed his class.
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The left-handed batter creamed the Australian bowlers in all parts of the ground for an aggressive half-century. He missed the entire 2023 and the home ODI World Cup for recovery from the unfortunate car accident but drilled 336 runs in ten innings of the format in 2022 at an average of 37.33 and a strike rate of 96.55 with the help of two half-centuries and one century at the best score of 125 runs.
India will start their tournament of the Champions Trophy 2025 on February 20 against Bangladesh as they will play all of their games at the Dubai International Stadium before they face their arch-rivals Pakistan. They will end the group stage of the competition against New Zealand as all of the games for India in the event will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).