Home
Cricket News
Sanju Samson Suffers Knee Injury To Miss Out From 1St Odi Against Sri Lanka

Sanju Samson suffers knee injury to miss out from 1st ODI against Sri Lanka

India’s wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson suffered a ligament injury on his knee and hence missed out on the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo, on Sunday, 18 July. It was expected that Samson will start the ODI series ahead of Ishan Kishan but the left-hander from Jharkhand earned a lucky ODI debut.

“Sanju Samson sprained a ligament in his knee and was hence not available for selection for this game. The medical team is tracking his progress at the moment,” the team management shared an update on Samson.

The injury would come as a fresh setback for Samson, whose place in the side has always been under contention and has faced flak for his inconsistency. The series against Sri Lanka would have been a perfect opportunity for the Kerala batsman to stake claim to a wicketkeeper-batsman slot in the India squad.

Sanju Samson is yet to make his debut in the fifty-over format but his seven match-long T20I career has not been as fruitful as it promised to be. He has been a shining light among the Indian batsmen in the Indian Premier League but lack of consistent opportunity and scoring have affected his chances in the white-ball set-up leading up to the ICC World T20 in October.

Discover more

Tabraiz Shamsi compares biosecure bubble to 'cage', advocates relaxed restrictions

South Africa spinner Tabraiz Shamsi has advocated the relaxation in Covid-19 related norms for cricketers by comparing the life inside biosecure bubbles to the life “caged circus animals” whose whole purpose of living is to “entertain the crowds”. Shamsi wrote his frustration on Twitter while quoting an ESPNcricinfo’s tweet that quoted the ECB’s CEO Tom Harrison’s defence of relaxed biosecure bubbles in order to maintain the mental well being of players. Shami said that staying under isolation for an extended period of time affect their life outside and cricket and families at large. Notably, Shamsi went on the tour of the West Indies with the South Africa side and has travelled straight to Ireland from the Carribean. Teams have adopted the biosecure bubble approach after the ECB showed them the way by hosting West Indies and Pakistan at the height of the pandemic last year in the UK. ECB has not barred cricketers from leaving the team hotel for their homes and instead has asked all the players and support staff to stay away from the places where the risks of contracting the virus are higher. The issue of mental health has been highlighted by several big players such as Virat Kohli as players have been travelling to parts of the world in a secure environment in terms of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Watch | Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor given out in a bizzare hit-wicket dismissal

It was a weird dismissal, to say the least as Brendan Taylor,l the skipper of Zimbabwe was declared hit wicket after he hit the bails while practising a shadow shot, just after he had left the second ball of the 25th over, moments after trying a ramp shot and the keeper had collected it. It wasn’t clear whether the fielding team appealed or the umpires took a ‘Suo Moto Cognizance’, but they did go upstairs and decided to declare the batter hit wicket. As expected, Taylor wasn’t happy with the dcesio0n and walked back shaking his head vehemently. He was batting at 46 off 47 balls and had hit a four just a delivery prior to the one on which he was declared out. Shoriful Islam was the bowler. In the laws of cricket, it says that the ball has to be in play and not dead before the batter hits his stumps. Also, the stumps must be hit while playing a shot and not while shadow practising and thus it did not sit well with many a cricket pundits as to why Taylor was given out. As far as the second ODI going on at Harare Sports Club is concerned, Zimbabwe managed to resurrect the innings somewhat after the Taylor wicket as Dion Myers and Wesley Medhevere and later on Medhevere and Sikandar Raza struck vital partnerships to guide the red and gold to 210-6 at the end of 45 overs with five more to play.

SL vs IND | Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan debut for India, Bhanuka Rajapaksa for hosts

The first ODI between Sri Lanka and India saw three debutants making their ODI debuts, two from the visiting side and one for the hosts. Suryakumar Yadav, both from Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League made their ODI debuts for India, having already made their T20I debuts in the previous series at home against England. Bahanuka Rajapaksa was called in as a replacement after regular batter Dhanushka Gunatjhilaka was suspended earlier this month. While 23-year-old Ishan became only the second-ever Indian player to debut for India on his birthday, after Gurshran Singh in 1990, he also became only the third player and second wicketkeeper from the state of Jharkhand to play for India. Before him, the legendry Indian captain MS Dhoni and Sourabh Tiwary represented India in ODIs. Suryakumar, at the age of 30 is one of the oldest to debut for India in ODIs and he was given cap number 236. The two of them, Kishan and Surya scored half centuries on their T20I debuts and it would be interesting to see what they do on their ODI debuts. Sanju Samson, who was primed to play this game was forced to sit out having pulled a strain in his ankle. Bhanuka, the Sri Lankan has already represented the island nation in six T20Is previously and is considered an out and out attacking batter.

SL vs IND | 1st ODI: India bring back 'Kul-Cha' after two years

The much-talked-about spin twins of India—Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have made their way back into the Indian ODI side in the first ODI against Sri Lanka. The duo last played together two years back in the ICC ODI World Cup 2019 against England. They were smashed all around the park by England batsmen and the Virat Kohli-led team management decided to separate the two and added an all-rounder in the side. However, their separation was also to do with the fitness of Hardik Pandya as his inability to bowl in the last year has hampered India’s team balance, and hence the team management had to play Ravindra Jadeja in the place of one of them. Both of them also did not help themselves by not putting their hands up in the last couple of years. Kuldeep, in particular, has gone way off the radar of the team management and his slide has not stopped in the Indian Premier League either. Earlier in the 14 edition of the IPL, the Kolkata Knight Riders did not play him even once on spin-friendly pitches in Chennai. India have arrived in Sri Lanka under the leadership of Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul Dravid and the first match is underway at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.