The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has addressed the clamour over the exclusion of Sanju Samson from the squad for Zimbabwe T20Is and has clarified that he has been rested. and not dropped. On Monday, a 15-member squad was announced for the three-match T20I series scheduled to begin later this month, with three openers – Prabhsimran Singh, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi featuring on the list. Samson, who fared poorly in his last three games before making way for Sooryavanshi in the playing XI in the ENG vs IND 2nd T20I, was left out.
Samson’s absence in IND vs ZIM T20I squad explained
As per news agency PTI, a source claimed that Sanju Samson wouldn’t have played in Zimbabwe and hence, there was no point of including him in the squad for the series. The source pointed out that the Keralam keeper-batter was a senior player who was a part of the Asian Games 2026 squad and that he was simply rested in order to give youngsters a chance in the Zimbabwe series.
“Why is this surprising that Sanju has been rested for Zimbabwe? People who are saying this should know Sanju is in the Asian Games squad in September. So those who are criticising the selection committee can do a bit of homework. What’s the point of carrying Samson when he won’t play? He is a senior guy,” the senior source said.
Samson has been consistently inconsistent in his T20I career. At the start of the year, he performed poorly in the series against New Zealand, scoring 46 runs in 5 matches. He then became India’s T20 World Cup 2026 hero, having played knocks of 97*, 89 and 89 in the knockout stages. He was named the Player of the Tournament. Then, Samson scored 477 runs in 14 IPL 2026 matches. After that, he registered scores of 0 and 5 against Ireland, and 1 against England in the 1st T20I before he was dropped.
India squad for Zimbabwe T20I series
Shreyas Iyer (c), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarathy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)
India vs Zimbabwe T20I series schedule
| Match No. | Day | Date | Match | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thursday | July 23 | 1st T20I | Harare |
| 2 | Saturday | July 25 | 2nd T20I | Harare |
| 3 | Sunday | July 26 | 3rd T20I | Harare |
Cricket
'Sanju Samson won't play': BCCI reveals why senior star was ignored not, dropped for Zimbabwe T20Is
