Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slams India squad selection for upcoming Sri Lanka tour

Shashi Tharoor criticizes India-Sri Lanka squad selection, questioning omission of Samson and Sharma in T20 and ODI teams.

Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor on July 18 slammed the India-Sri Lanka squad selection after it was announced on July 18.

Mr. Tharoor expressed surprise at Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma not finding a place in the India squad for the upcoming tour in Sri Lanka. Samson and Sharma were dropped from the ODI format and T20I formats respectively. It may be noted that Samson hit a maiden ton during the South Africa tour in 2023. Meanwhile, Sharma set the Zimbabwe stage ablaze with a blistering maiden century (a 47-ball 100) to fashion India’s 100-run win in the second T20 during the recent tour.

Both Samson and Sharma were expected to find a place in the squad, but they were left out. Mr. Tharoor expressed surprise after the squad was announced, saying, the selection was interesting.

“Interesting squad selection for India’s tour of Sri Lanka later this month. Sanju Samson who hit a century in his last ODI, has not been picked for ODIs, while, Abhishek Sharma who hit a T20I century in the series, has not been picked at all,” Mr. Tharoor said in a tweet.

He went on to add that success in India does not matter to the selector. “Rarely has success in India colours mattered so little to the selectors! Good luck to the team anyway,” the MP said.

Suryakumar Yadav has been anointed as Rohit Sharma’s heir apparent in T20Is while Rohit and Virat Kohli have made themselves available for the ODI leg of India’s forthcoming limited-overs series in Sri Lanka. The transition — with Hardik Pandya being overlooked from the leadership group from the shortest format — is significant considering the tour will be Gautam Gambhir’s first official assignment as India men’s head coach.

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.