Reports: Sanju Samson to miss out on Champions Trophy 2025 berth

After having a good run in the T20Is, Sanju Samson has become a fair contender for position in India’s squad for the Champions Trophy 2025. The batter smashed 111 runs off 47 balls against Bangladesh and 107 runs off 50 balls against South Africa. But after all the impressive performances, the right-handed batter might miss the United Arab Emirates flight. 

The 30-year-old’s decision to skip the Vijay Hazare Trophy has not gone down well with the selectors and they are looking at Dhruv Jurel as another wicketkeeping option with Rishabh Pant already in the fray. While Pant was the default choice, another wicketkeeper who was tussling for the spot along with Sanju and Jurel was Ishan Kishan. 

As per OnManorama, the management was particularly unhappy with Sanju Samson missing the Kerala team's preparatory camp ahead of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25. It is also reported that the wicketkeeper-batter had informed the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) about his unavailability for the camp but the management decided to include only those players who were involved in sessions.

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Not only Sanju, but another key player, Sachin Baby was also unavailable, hence Salman Nizar was named as the Captain. The absence of star players impacted the team’s performance as Kerala won just two of their five matches and failed to qualify for the knockouts.

Samson remained benched during T20 World Cup

Meanwhile, speaking of Sanju Samson, the star wicketkeeper-batter was part of India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad but failed to get featured in the playing XI throughout the tournament. The coveted Champions Trophy will commence on February 19 and India’s squad is expected to be released on January 19. The initial date for the teams to submit their squads for January 12 but the date was extended to January 19.