Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has said that no one wants to be in the shoes of Sanju Samson right now, after the Kerala batter was not picked in the two Indian team squads announced for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Australia.
The BCCI released two lineups, with KL Rahul leading the Indian team for the first two ODIs and Rohit Sharma coming back for the third one. Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Virat Kohli took a break. The third and last ODI, which will be India’s final bilateral match before the ICC World Cup 2023 starts, however, sees the return of all the major guns.
The three one-day internationals between India and Australia will take place in Mohali, Indore, and Rajkot on September 22, 24, and 27. Australia has already released its World Cup and India tour rosters.
India have included both R Ashwin and Washington Sundar in their 15-member squad for the first two ODIs against Australia. Also named in the first two ODIs are Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma as well. Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill are the other batters in the squad.
The bowling unit remains the same which was picked for the Asia Cup with Ravindra Jadeja leading the spin attack and being the vice-captain for the first two ODIs. Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna form the pace unit.
“No One Would Wanna Be In Sanju’s Shoes Right Now”- Robin Uthappa
There was a wave of sympathy on social media as the Indian cricket fans realized that while R Ashwin, who hasn’t played a single ODI since January 2022, was recalled to the team; Sanju Samson, who had been with the side for quite some time and even traveled to the West Indies, was nowhere to be seen.
Incidentally, Samson was not picked for the Asian Games as well, where Ruturaj Gaikwad will lead the Indian side full of IPL stars.
Robin Uthappa took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared a message regarding Sanju Samson.
He posted: “No One Would Wanna Be In Sanju’s Shoes Right Now”
No one would wanna be in Sanju’s shoes right now!! 🤯#madness
— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) September 19, 2023
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.
— Robin Aiyuda Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) September 19, 2023
