NEW DELHI: The India World Cup BCCI selectors named the India provisional 15-member squad for the forthcoming India World Cup on the cut-off date of September 5 and as expected, KL Rahul was named in the squad, while Sanju Samson missed out. Rahul is expected to join the rest of the Indian players in Sri Lanka for the Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2023.
India World Cup: Sanju Samson has failed to capitalize on his chances, or his good knocks have been overshadowed by a better one by his teammates. He didn’t have enough meaningful runs under his belt and wasn’t slick enough as a wicketkeeper to oust KL Rahul.
This marks the second time in two years that Samson has come perilously close to securing a World Cup berth but fallen short. Last year, he was in the same space, as despite a three-way fight for the wicketkeeper slot, India preferred Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik over him for the T20 World Cup. And roughly 10 months later, nothing has changed, with Samson falling behind in the pecking order to an emerging youngster in Ishan and a fit-again Rahul.
In reality, though, Samson himself has squandered the breaks offered to him, and he himself failed to assert and cement his place in the side. For all the wondrous gifts he possesses, he has a cruel knack for not performing when it matters to the team or suffers the crueler fate of a fellow batsman out-performing him.
India’s provisional squad for World Cup 2023:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya(vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Axar