'We wanted the sixth bowler to come in' - Shikhar Dhawan reveals reason behind Sanju Samson's omission

After putting up a promising performance in the first ODI against New Zealand in the ongoing series, Sanju Samson was dropped from the starting lineup for the second ODI as India named Deepak Hooda as his replacement. India played with only five bowling options in the first game and had Samson and Rishabh Pant in the XI, with the latter keeping the gloves.

While Rishabh Pant failed to impress with the bat, again, Samson showed great potential before being dismissed. After all the criticisms that India had received for not having the sixth bowling option, fans had hoped for a bowling option coming into play in place of Pant for the second game. But India went ahead with Pant in the XI and dropped Samson.

While India looked to level the series by winning the second ODI, New Zealand’s weather played spoilsport to all their plans. After just 12.5 overs of play in the second game, which was called off due to rain, Dhawan explained why Samson was dropped.

“We wanted the sixth bowler to come in, so Sanju Samson missed out and Hooda came in. And Chahar was picked because he can swing the ball really well. A few of our guys are resting but this side is still strong, shows the depth of our squad,” he explained.

Samson was a part of the three-match T20I series that India and New Zealand played last week, but could not make it to the playing combination. The T20I side was led by Hardik Pandya, and India won the series by 1-0 after rain spoiled two games of the series.

After the conclusion of the series, Pandya called Samson’s exclusion an "unfortunate case" and said it was a "strategic" reason behind Samson being benched throughout the T20I series. Samson was nevertheless chosen for the Auckland One-Day International, where he hit 36 runs in 38 balls and established a 96-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer.