Shashi Tharoor delighted as Sanju Samson named in ‘excellent' India T20 World Cup squad

Shashi Tharoor delighted as Sanju Samson named in ‘excellent’ India T20 World Cup squad

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor was thrilled after Kerala batting star Sanju Samson was named in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Samson was one of the two wicketkeepers along with Rishabh Pant as the senior selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar overlooked another wicketkeeper, KL Rahul, from the 15-man squad. Samson has been picked in an Indian squad for a World Cup for the first time.Â

Shashi Tharoor took to social media to express delight over the selection of Sanju Samson, who hails from the Congress MP’s constituency, for the showpiece T20 tournament, starting June 1 in the West Indies and the USA.Â

INDIA T20 WORLD CUP SQUAD

“Congratulations to the @BCCI selectors on picking an excellent team for the #T20WorldCup2024. Delighted that my constituency will finally be represented at a cricket World Cup with @IamSanjuSamson finally getting a much-deserved break! This team will bring back the trophy!! (sic),” Shashi Tharoor said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.Â

NO RINKU SINGH IN INDIA’s WORLD CUP SQUAD

Notably, Shashi Tharoor has been a strong backer of Sanju Samson over the years. The Congress MP reacted sharply, expressing his disappointment after the Rajasthan IPL team captain was left out from India’s ODI World Cup squad last year. In the lead-up to the squad announcement for the T20 World Cup, Shashi Tharoor rued the lack of buzz around Samson’s chances of making the T20 World Cup squad. Tharoor was unhappy that Samson, who has had a brilliant IPL 2024, was not discussed as much as the likes of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, the two two contenders for the T20 World Cup squad.

Sanju Samson has played 25 T20Is for India. He made his debut as a teenager in 2015 and then had to wait 5 years for his next opportunity in the shortest format of the game. Samson played 6 T20Is in the T20 World Cup year in 2022, but he missed the bus to Australia.Â

In the lead-up to the upcoming T20 World Cup, Samson played 9 matches for India in the shortest format of the game. However, it’s his IPL form that has won him a place in the squad.Â

Samson has led the Royals to the top of the IPL 2024 points table. Samson has scored 385 runs in 9 matches at a strike rate of over 160 as the Royals are on top of the points table with 8 wins and 16 points.Â

INDIA SQUAD FOR T20 World Cup 

Rohit Sharma (c), Yashashvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav. Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan

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