Has Gautam Gambhir Betrayed Sanju Samson?

Sanju Samson has been omitted from IND's ODI side (X.com)Sanju Samson has been omitted from IND's ODI side (X.com)

Gautam Gambhir has been recently appointed as Team India's head coach, and India's tour of Sri Lanka is his first assignment in one of the most high-profile jobs in cricket. There was lot of talk of his bold views and it was supposed to be reflected in the Indian team selection for Island nation. 

The selection is done now and there are some surprising call-ups but Sanju Samson is missing, the man who scored a century in India's last ODI game. After that century, it was Gautam Gambhir who said that Sanju Samson should be given a longer rope in international cricket, and so his non-selection has raised quite a few eyebrows.

Gautam Gambhir after Sanju Samson's Century vs SA

Gambhir had emphasised on the fact that Sanju Samson is a talented cricketer but has not received consistent chances and he added that the century will put more pressure on selectors.

"We all know how much talent he has. Not just us, everyone has talked about it given the kind of innings he has played in the IPL. But today through this knock, somewhere he has kickstarted his international career. Before this, he always received sporadic chances - sometimes he would get a game, something he would be left out. But when you score a 100, you not only impress the selectors but even put pressure on them to pick you."

Gambhir also stated that Sanju Samson provides a good option in the middle order and his wicketkeeping skills provides a different dimension. He also mentioned that Sanju Samson has restarted his career after the Paarl Century.

"But we'll have to see whether India will even persist with him after this century because the next World Cup is four years away. Still, the kind of quality player Samson is, I feel he should be persisted with. With his keeping, you have a very good option in the middle order. India will always have a strong and heavy top order but Samson will always give you that option in the middle. With this knock, Samson has restarted his career."

He also praised Sanju Samson's ability to up the ante and hoped that one gets to see more of Sanju Samson. 

"When you have the ability to score big hits, you are never under pressure. This is just his 15th or 16th one-day game. He has been around the Indian team but hasn't gotten too many opportunities. But the way he got a big score today, I hope he gets a consistent run from here and hope we get to see more of Sanju Samson."

So, with all these kind words from Gambhir, Sanju Samson fans expected him to back the Kerala star in his first selection. 

However, Rishabh Pant was preferred in his place and it was Riyan Parag who got his maiden call-up to fulfill that middle order role which Gambhir was expecting Sanju Samson to excel at. 

However, one should also consider that there are other stakeholders like selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma. Sanju Samson's fans though had lot of expectations from Gautam Gambhir and in his first outing, he has surely let them down.