Shashi Tharoor ‘stunned’ to see Sanju Samson removed as Kerala captain for upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy

Shashi Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, was disappointed after Sanju Samson wasn’t retained as Kerala’s skipper for the upcoming edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The right-hander played five games in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and had scores of 32, 22, 16, 7 and 51. His team finished third in the points table in Elite Group C after three wins from five matches.

Tharoor was dejected for the fact that despite Kerala and Samson doing well, Samson had to face the axe from leadership duties. He was also unhappy to see Rohan Prem being excluded from the squad. Sachin Baby has been named as the skipper of the team with Vishnu Vinod being named as his deputy.

Tharoor took to Twitter and wrote, “Stunned to see that Kerala has dropped @Im_SanjuSamson as captain despite his stellar performance in the Mushtaq Ali trophy. The team list has no room for Asif or Basil Thampi, two of the best pacers in the state, nor the marvellous batsman Rohan Prem. Pettiness is self-destructive!”

Here’s the tweet:

Stunned to see that Kerala has dropped @Im_SanjuSamson as captain despite his stellar performance in the MushtaqAli trophy. The team list has no room for Asif or BasilThampi, two of the best pacers in the state, nor the marvellous batsman RohanPrem. Pettiness is self destructive!

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 8, 2021

Kerala squad:

Sachin Baby, Rohan Mohammad, Sanju Samson, Vishnu Vinod, Robin Uthappa, Salman Nizar, Vatsal Govind, Jalaj Saxena, Akshay Chandran, Vinoop Manohar, Sijomon Joseph, Mithun PK, Basil Thampi, Arun, MD Nidesh, Sreerup, S Sreesanth, Fazil Fanoos, Rohit

The VHT is set to take place from February 20 to March 14. As per the COVID-19 protocols set by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the teams will have to assemble on February 13. Thereafter, the players and others will have to undergo tests and quarantines.

The tests will take place on February 13, 15 and 17 with practice allowed on February 18 and 19. The teams have been divided into six groups- Elite A, B, C, D and E and the Plate Group.

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020-21 Groups:

Elite A: Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, Tripura, Baroda, Goa. Venue: Surat

Elite B: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh. Venue: Indore

Elite C: Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Railways, Bihar. Venue: Bangalore

Elite D: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Pondicherry. Venue: Jaipur

Elite E: Bengal, Services, Jammu & Kashmir, Saurashtra, Haryana, Chandigarh. Venue: Kolkata

Plate Group: Uttarakhand, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim. Venue: Tamil Nadu