'This is truly inexplicable...' - Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor demands explanation from Indian selectors about omission of Sanju Samson from T20I squad

Just within a few days after the conclusion of the ODI World Cup 2023 and a heartbreaking loss against Australia in the final of the tournament, the Indian Cricket Board announced the 15-men squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia. The selectors and management appointed star T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav as the stand-in skipper of the men in blue for the T20I series against Australia.

Meanwhile, the names of the star players like Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal once again faced omission from the T20I squad for India. It didn’t go down well with the Indian parliamentarian and renowned scholar Dr Shashi Tharoor; he immediately took to Twitter to express his displeasure after the selectors ignored Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal once again from the T20I squad of India.

Subsequently, Dr Tharoor also demanded an explanation from the selectors; he felt that Sanju Samson was way better captain material than Suryakumar Yadav.

This is truly inexplicable. Sanju Samson should have not just been selected, he should have led the side in the absence of all the seniors. His captaincy experience with Kerala and Rajasthan Royals is more current than SKY's. Our selectors need to explain themselves to the cricket-loving public. And why no Yuzvendra Chahal either?” wrote Dr Tharoor in his recent X-post after the announcement.

Here’s a look at X-post from Dr Shashi Tharoor: 

This is truly inexplicable. @IamSanjuSamson should have not just been selected, he should have led the side in the absence of all the seniors. His captaincy experience with Kerala and @rajasthanroyals is more current than SKY's. Our selectors need to explain themselves to the… https://t.co/W251o89jzs

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 21, 2023

India and Australia will take on each other in the first T20I of the five-match series today, from 7.00 PM at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam. With this T20I series, the men in blue will also start their preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, which will be played in the USA and West Indies. 

India’s squad for the five-match T20I series against Australia:

Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar.