Samson's omission headlined India's T20I squad announced for the Zimbabwe tour.
The BCCI Men's Selection Committee on Monday (July 6) announced India's squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, starting July 23 in Harare.
Sanju Samson’s omission headlined the 15-member squad, featuring quite a few fresh faces including Prabhsimran Singh, Ashok Sharma, Harsh Dubey, and Yash Thakur.
Amid the outrage over Samson’s snub, a report published in PTI claims that the wicketkeeper-batter has been ‘rested’ and not dropped from India’s T20I squad.
According to the report, the selection committee views small assignments like the Zimbabwe tour as a developmental environment to test fringe talent and younger prospects
A senior BCCI official aware of the selection committee’s discussions noted that carrying a senior player of Samson's stature across the tour simply to sit on the bench would be counterproductive. Hence, they chose to give him a break to keep him fresh for the 2026 Asian Games.
“Why is this surprising that Sanju has been rested for Zimbabwe? People who are saying this should know Sanju is in the Asian Games squad in September. So those who are criticising the selection committee can do a bit of homework. What’s the point of carrying Samson when he won’t play? He is a senior guy," the senior official said in the report.
Samson’s exclusion from the Zimbabwe tour sparked uproar as he was the Player-of-the-Tournament in India’s triumphant T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year.
Notably, Samson was recently dropped from India’s playing XI for the second T20I against England after three modest scores on the tour of UK. His snub paved the way for teenage prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s international debut.
In remains to be seen if Samson features in the remaining three T20Is of the ongoing series against England.
India’s squad for Zimbabwe T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarathy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (WK).