Sanju Samson to be dropped from Indian team for Asia Cup 2023 - Reports

Sanju Samson managed to score only 92 runs in six innings in the white-ball leg of West Indies tour.

Sanju Samson, who didn’t do much on the West Indies tour barring a half-century in the ODI series, might reportedly be dropped from the Indian team squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 tournament.

With KL Rahul out of contention owing to his recovery from thigh surgery and lack of match-practice, it was an opportunity for Sanju Samson to come up with some notable performances against the West Indies and claim a spot in the Asia Cup 2023 squad.

The Asia Cup 2023 will begin on August 30 and will be played in a hybrid model with four matches in Pakistan and the rest of the encounters including India and the final in Sri Lanka. The final will be played on September 17.

The India squad for the Asia Cup 2023 is yet to be announced as the BCCI selection panel awaits the NCA report of the fitness of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer as they want to solve the middle order conundrum that the management has been facing recently due to injuries.

Is Sanju Samson to be dropped from the Indian squad for the Asia Cup?

In their absence, Sanju Samson had a great chance to impress the management by scoring some impactful runs in the West Indies. But he failed to make the most of the opportunities. In six innings in the ODI and T20I series, he aggregated 92 runs, including a half-century in the third ODI.

Samson endured a poor tour of the Caribbean islands, especially in the shortest format of the game, managing just 32 runs in 3 outings.

Though he averages a healthy 55.71 after 13 ODI outings, the Kerala cricketer didn’t look at his best in the recent series, where he managed 60 runs in 2 innings.

And now as per a report in Times of India, the patience of BCCI selectors has more or less run out with Samson. Also, sources close to BCCI said that KL Rahul is almost fit and is likely to return to the squad soon. The source also revealed that Shreyas Iyer is yet to attain full fitness.

“Rahul is by and large fit, and is ‘keeping wickets too, while Shreyas Iyer (operated for a back injury) is still not 100%. Both have taken part in match simulations at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and will play a practice match soon. The fitness of the players who are back from the West Indies tour will also be assessed by the team and NCA’s physios. Hence the delay in naming the team.” as quoted by TOI.

With Rahul returning, and Ishan Kishan doing well in whatever chances he got in the ODI series against the West Indies, the left-hander is set to be chosen over Samson for the second keeper spot in the Asia Cup.

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