‘One more failure for Pant’ - Shashi Tharoor miffed with Sanju Samson's exclusion from 3rd ODI against New Zealand

Shikhar Dhawan-led team India endured an underwhelming first innings in the third and final ODI match against New Zealand as they put 219 runs on the board. And the match was ultimately called off due to persistent rain which led hosts to clinch the ODI series. The decision of not playing Sanju Samson in the match has not gone down well with politician Shashi Tharoor.

The batting unit, apart from Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar, just could not rise to the occasion in the must-win encounter and was decked up by the Kiwi bowlers. Rishabh Pant, who scored 10 runs from 16 balls, was at the receiving end of a lot of criticism and Tharoor took a jibe at the player, stating that he requires a break from the white-ball format.

One more failure for Pant, who clearly needs a break from white-ball cricket. One more opportunity denied to @IamSanjuSamson who now has to wait for the @IPL to show that he’s one of the best too-order bats in India. #IndvsNZ https://t.co/RpJKkDdp5n

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 30, 2022

“One more failure for Pant, who clearly needs a break from white-ball cricket. One more opportunity denied to @IamSanjuSamson who now has to wait for the @IPL to show that he’s one of the best top-order bats in India,” tweeted Tharoor.

Shashi Tharoor backs Sanju Samson on social media

The MP of Thiruvananthapuram clearly was not in favour of dropping Samson from the side for the match and spit stats in a separate post, which was tweeted by him earlier in the day.

"Pant has done well at No. 4, so it is important to back him," says @VVSLaxman281. He's a good player out of form who's failed in ten of his last 11 innings; Samson averages 66 in ODIs, has made runs in all his last five matches & is on the bench. Go figure. @IamSanjuSamson

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 30, 2022

“‘Pant has done well at No. 4, so it is important to back him,’ says @VVSLaxman281. He's a good player out of form who's failed in ten of his last 11 innings; Samson averages 66 in ODIs, has made runs in all his last five matches & is on the bench. Go figure,” read another one of Tharoor’s tweets.

Sanju Samson stitched a vital partnership of 94 runs with Shreyas Iyer in the first ODI when the wickets kept tumbling. The keeper-batter scored 36 off 38 deliveries before getting dropped by the skipper in the subsequent two matches.

Speaking about the match, India posted a total of 219 runs on the scoreboard. However, the Kiwi batters began the second innings on a solid note but the match couldn't have a result due to rain and hosts won the ODI series.