Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh was left baffled by the exclusion of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal from their respective formats in India’s tour of Sri Lanka. Set to begin on 27 July, India will play 3 T20Is and 3 ODI matches in the island nation. The series would be the first under India’s new head coach Gautam Gambhir.
The selection panel, headed by Ajit Agarkar decided to leave out centurions Abhishek Sharma (T20Is) and Sanju Samson (ODIs) from the squad, which baffled many, including Harbhajan Singh. While Abhishek Sharma hit his maiden T20I hundred in the Zimbabwe series, Samson hit a hundred in his last ODI game against South Africa.
Harbhajan also mentioned the name of Yuzvendra Chahal, who did not find a place in any formats of the tour. Chahal was carried with the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024, but did not play a single game there as well.
“Hard to understand why Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are not a part of the Indian team for Sri Lanka,” Harbhajan Singh tweeted after the squad selection for the Sri Lanka series.
The men’s selection committee made quite a few shocking calls with their announcement. Suryakumar Yadav was made the T20I captain ahead of Hardik Pandya, who had deputised Rohit Sharma in the World Cup. Shubman Gil was elevated to the position of India vice-captain in both formats of the series.
INDIA’S ODI SQUAD VS SRI LANKA
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.
INDIA’S T20I SQUAD FOR SRI LANKA
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.