First Published Feb 21, 2023, 1:14 PM IST
When asked who is the only cricketer who has been consistently sidelined by all the captains, Sanju Samson immediately springs to mind.
Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson was born in 1994 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. His father was a police constable in Delhi. He has also been a footballer in the Delhi Santosh Trophy. After retiring as a police constable in Delhi, they moved to Kerala.
Sanju Samson
Cricketer Sanju Samson’s childhood dream was to become an IPS officer. He has been living in Delhi Police Colony since the beginning and has had such a wish.
Sanju Samson
In 2007, he was the captain of the Kerala team in the under-13 cricket tournament organized by the Kerala State Cricket Association and scored 973 runs including 4 centuries in 5 matches and won the man of the match award.
Sanju Samson
He scored a 138-ball double century against Goa in the 2008-09 Vijay Merchant Trophy. Apart from that he scored 498 runs including 2 centuries and 2 fifties. Also, Sanju Samson has captained the U-16 and U-19 teams.
Sanju Samson
He was selected for the India Under-19 team after his impressive performance in the Cooch Behar Trophy in 2010-11. Subsequently, he played for the Indian team in the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup held in Malaysia in June 2012.
Sanju Samson
However, Sanju Samson did not make it to the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. However, he was the vice-captain of the Indian team in the 2013 End Under-19 Series in Australia in 2013.
Sanju Samson
He was the vice-captain of the Indian team in the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2014. In addition, he scored 85 off 45 balls against Kenya in this series.
Sanju Samson
He captained the Kerala team in the Ranji Trophy series in 2015-16. Similarly, he scored 627 runs in 7 matches in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy series.
Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson, who has participated in many such matches, was included in the 17-man Indian squad for the 5-match T20I series against England in 2014. However, he did not participate. Similarly, he took part in the T20I series against the West Indies. But, he was later fired.
Sanju Samson
However, he replaced Ambati Naidu in the 2015 T20I against Zimbabwe. He scored 36 runs in this match. However, the Indian team lost in this match.
Sanju Samson
He was invited to the T20 match against Bangladesh in 2019 and was kept on the bench. Last year 2020, he played in the T20 against Australia. He made his debut in the 2021 ODI against Sri Lanka and last played in the 2022 ODI against New Zealand.
Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson, who has been included in the team and then removed, has participated in 11 ODIs and scored 330 runs and 296 runs in 16 T20Is.
Sanju Samson
He was not included in the Dhoni-led team in 2015. He was not included in the Kohli-led team in 2019. 2022 did not make it to the team led by Rohit.
Sanju Samson
Similarly, KL Rahul was not included in the team. Sanju Samson was also left out of the Hardik Pandya-led team. The captains in the Indian team may have changed, but the fact that Sanju Samson has been neglected has not changed. Why so much, it is noteworthy that he is not even included in the one-day series against Australia.