New Delhi: Sanju Samson has been left out of Kerala’s squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning on December 21. The Kerala batter was excluded after he missed the preparatory camp ahead of the tournament as it was decided to include only those players who participated in the camp in the lead-up to the tournament.
Samson was left out despite a good show in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024-25, where he led Kerala fantastically but the side missed out on qualifying for the knockouts, winning four out of their six games. As per a report in Espncricinfo, this was a part of the internal decision as Samson was earlier named in the 30-member probable list but now does not find himself in the 19-member short list.
Samson communicated unavailability for camp
The report further mentions that Samson had communicated to the association via writing regarding his unavailability for the camp but the Kerala Cricket Association stuck to their original decision. With seasoned batter Sachin Baby also unavailable due to injury he sustained in SMAT, Salman Nizar has been named as the captain for the 50-over tournament beginning in three days from now.
Samson has been in good touch recently as he scored two consecutive centuries on the tour of South Africa and in SMAT, the Kerala batter scored 135 runs which included one fifty. Apart from Samson, senior batter Manish Pandey has also not bee included in the Kerala squad. The report further mentions that his exclusion is purely due to his poor form recently as he has not been able to score enough runs with the bat.
Kerala squad
Salman Nizar (capt), Rohan Kunnummal, Shoun Roger, Mohammed Azharuddeen (wk), Anand Krishnan, Krishna Prasad, Jalaj Saxena, Aditya Sarwate, Sijomon Joseph, Basil Thampi, Basil NP, Nidheesh MD, Eden Apple Tom, Sharafuddeen, Akhil Scaria, Vishweshwar Suresh, Vaishak Chandran, Ajnas M (wk)
Seasoned batter Sanju Samson has been left out of Kerala’s squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning on December 21. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
