'Where is Sanju Samson': Netizens react to Team India's T20 World Cup 2022 squad

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. Among the notable names missing from the squad is that of wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson. The Kerala-born cricketer's exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad has triggered a frenzy on social media with users not happy with the BCCI for not considering him even on the standby players' list. 

T20 World Cup 2022: Fans not pleased with Sanju Samson's exclusion

Samson has also been excluded from the squads named for the T20I series against Australia and South Africa. Samson was part of the Indian team that played in Ireland, England, West Indies, and Zimbabwe from June to August this year. Samson played a couple of useful knocks for his side to help them win matches. However, despite his relatively good outing with the bat, Samson has not been included in any of the Indian squads for the next few months. 

Samson's T20 stats

Earlier this year, Samson led Rajasthan Royals to the final of IPL 2022, playing a crucial role for his team with both the bat and the gloves. The 27-year-old played 17 matches for his team and scored 458 runs at an average of 28.63 and with a strike rate of 146.79. This was the second consecutive season that Samson scored more than 400 runs for his side. Samson played 14 matches in IPL 2021 and scored 484 runs at an average of 40.33 and with a strike rate of 136.72. 

As far as Samson's T20I record is concerned, the right-handed batter has played 16 matches for India and has scored 296 runs at an average of 21.14 and with a strike rate of 135.15. Samson has one half-century in the 16 games that he played for the country. Samson's T20I record is not as impressive as his stats in the IPL. 

India's squad for T20 World Cup

India's squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (VC), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dinesh Karthik (WK), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh. 

Standby players: Mohammed Shami, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Chahar. 

Image: Twitter/BCCI