Indian World Cup winner Harbhajan Singh has shared his opinion on Sanju Samson’s non-selection in the Indian squad for the three-match ODI series against Australia starting on Friday and asked the Indian wicketkeeper-batter to keep putting in the effort to improve his chances in the future.

Sanju Samson didn’t make it into the Indian team for the three-match ODI series against Australia, despite the team management choosing to rest their star players for the first two games of the series. Samson’s exclusion has invited tremendous criticism on social media, as the Kerala batter was ignored by the selection committee despite his brilliant ODI average of 55.71.

Speaking on his YouTube Channel, Harbhajan Singh said that Sanju Samson’s omission from the squad has sparked a wide range of controversy and believes that the reason behind his non-selection in the team is due to the presence of two wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan in the team.

“Sanju Samson’s exclusion has raised a lot of debates. If you average 55 in ODIs and still don’t be a part of the squad, then definitely that’s strange. But I think Sanju wasn’t selected because India already had two wicketkeepers, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan. Both are also a part of the World Cup squad,” Harbhajan Singh said.

The 28-year-old scored 390 runs with a sensational average of 55.7 in 12 innings at an impressive strike rate of 104.00 batting lower down the order for India but was ignored from the India squad for the Australia series as Tilak Varma and Ruturaj Gaikwad were preferred ahead of him for the tournament.

I Know It Is Difficult To Accept Sometimes And One Can Get Disheartened – Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh urged the Indian wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson to keep putting in the hard yards and wait for his chance in the Indian team. He claimed that KL Rahul is always a better option than Samson in the middle order because Rahul offers more stability to the team and that it is challenging for India to have three wicket-keepers in the starting lineup.

“Sanju will need to wait for his chance. I know it is difficult to accept sometimes and one can get disheartened. But age is on his side and I urge him to continue putting in the hard yards and wait for his time”.

“If I have to choose between KL Rahul and Sanju Samson, I would definitely select Rahul because of the stability he provides at No.4, and No.5. Samson is also a good player and can hit sixes at will, but the situation now is such that you can’t have three wicketkeeper-batters in a team. It will be difficult to field all of them in the XI,” Harbhajan Singh added.

KL Rahul missed out on the majority of the 2023 season due to an injury but worked very hard to put his best foot forward to be fit for the marquee event in the country. He has announced his comeback into International cricket with an astounding hundred against arch-rivals Pakistan and would look to carry on his form going into the series against Australia, starting on Friday.