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Revealed: Why Sanju Samson Was Not Picked In South Zone's Duleep Trophy Squad

Rajgeeta Yadav

Sanju Samson [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X.com]Sanju Samson [Source: @CricCrazyJohns/X.com]

The Duleep Trophy 2025 is back this year and will begin on August 28, 2025, in Bengaluru. South Zone have already announced their squad, with young Indian batter Tilak Varma named as the captain. Tilak has been in great form lately, scoring big runs while playing county cricket in England.

From Kerala, four players made it to the South Zone team thanks to their strong performance in the Ranji Trophy, where Kerala reached the final for the first time. These players are Mohammed Azharuddeen (who is also the vice-captain), MD Nidheesh, Basil NP, and Salman Nizar.

But one name was notably missing, Indian wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson. His exclusion came as a surprise, especially since other Kerala players were picked.

So, Why Is Sanju Samson Not Included?

One possible reason for his omission is his limited participation in the last Ranji Trophy season. The Kerala batter only played two matches during Kerala’s historic run to the finals against Vidarbha. His absence was reportedly due to international commitments and injury concerns.

Because he hasn’t played much first-class (red-ball) cricket recently, selectors may have felt he wasn’t match-ready for this format.

According to South Zone’s chief selector, Thalaivan Sargunam, the main reason is that Sanju didn’t play much red-ball cricket last season. He missed most of the Ranji Trophy matches, which were important for team selection.

"Sanju Samson was not selected because he was unavailable for much of last year’s Ranji Trophy season, when Kerala made their historic run to the final. This squad was picked based on players who have consistently performed well in the Ranji Trophy and during India A tours," Sargunam Xavier told TOI.

It’s also worth noting that this year, the Duleep Trophy has returned to the old zonal format, teams now represent different regions of India (like North, South, East, West, Central, and North East). Earlier, players were divided into India A, B, C, and D by national selectors.

South Zone and West Zone will go straight to the semifinals, while the other zones will start in the quarterfinals. All matches will be played at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.