Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has slammed the BCCI selection committee for not including Sanju Samson in the ODI squad for India’s tour of Sri Lanka. He also showed disappointment at Abhishek Sharma being dropped as well.

Tharoor, as MP from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, from where Sanju Samson hails, pointed out that the wicketkeeper-batter had scored a century in his last ODI innings. Samson had scored his maiden ton in international cricket in an ODI in South Africa.

While he was named in the T20I squad for the Sri Lanka series, Samson was not included in the ODI squad, with Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul being named as keepers.

Similarly, Abhishek Sharma had scored a century in T20Is against Zimbabwe but failed to find a place for the Sri Lanka tour.  

Tharoor took to X to comment on the selection and called it interesting. The MP also said that rarely has success in India color mattered so little to the selectors.

"Interesting squad selection for India’s tour of Sri Lanka later this month. @IamSanjuSamson, who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while @IamAbhiSharma4, who hit a T20I century in the #INDvZIM series, has not been picked at all. Rarely has success in India colors mattered so little to the selectors! Good luck to the team anyway," Tharoor posted.

India's squads for Sri Lanka tour

T20I Squad:

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

ODI Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana