Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has shared his views on India opting for Rishabh Pant over Sanju Samson for the 2025 Champions Trophy, slated to be held in Pakistan and UAE from February 19 to March 9.

Gavaskar said that Samson was hard done by after being left out for the ICC showpiece. He was of the opinion that Pant edged out Samson by virtue of being a better game-changer, a left-handed option and a better wicketkeeper.

“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 told 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,” he added.

Once hailed as a prodigious talent, Samson made his India debut in 2015 at the age of 21. For the next five years, he was overlooked in the national side before he finally earned a call-up in 2020.

As of today, Samson has represented India in 16 ODIs and 37 T20Is so far. While the wicketkeeper-batter is yet to get consistent opportunities in the 50-over format, the rest to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill opened doors for him in the shortest format last year.

Samson made most of the opportunities at the top of the order and slammed three centuries across seven T20Is against Bangladesh and South Africa.

In ODIs, Samson has scored 510 runs at an average of 56.66 and a strike-rate of 99.60 with a hundred and three fifties to show for his efforts.

India squad for Champions Trophy 2025:

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja.