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51 off 41 for Kerala captain Sanju Samson in SMAT 2025 after South Africa ODIs snub

Soumyajit Dutta

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

India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, who has been the talk of the town because of his CSK trade and South Africa ODI snub, is currently leading Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025.

While he has been omitted from the South Africa ODI tour, his T20I selection is in jeopardy, too, given his slow and careful knock against Odisha on November 26.

Samson bags fifty but at what cost?

Odisha came in to bat first and gave a solid target of 177 to Kerala, which saw the latter win by chasing the target with 21 balls remaining. However, to everyone's surprise, Sanju Samson was not the orchestrator behind the fast and furious win. 

Kerala came in to bat with Sanju Samson as the opener and Rohan Kunnummal alongside him, who played a breathtaking knock of 121 runs off just 60 balls to wrap up the game inside 16.3 overs. Meanwhile, Samson on the other side scored a slow-paced 50 while batting at a strike rate of 124.39. 

Samson bagged 6 boundaries and 1 six in his innings while facing 41 deliveries and achieving 51 runs. However, Rohan smashed his way through the game with 10 boundaries and 10 sixes while striking at 201.66. 

Samson's knock revenge-worthy?

Samson's knock, which was commendable but still overly cautious as per T20I standards, would be critical in his selection for the India T20I tour against South Africa, which begins from December 9, and will also be a question mark for Chennai Super Kings, who roped him in while trading with Ravindra Jadeja as a primary wicketkeeper-batter for the IPL 2026 season.

Speaking of the match, Odisha batters Biplab Samantray, Gaurav Choudhary, and Sambit Baral scored notably to rack up a mammoth total on board as only MD Nidheesh managed to hole out four wickets from Kerala's side. KM Asif took two wickets while Ankit Sharma bagged one wicket in the match. 

Though Kerala won the match comfortably, Samson's batting will be scrutinised as he has a lot to prove in the coming days while leading as Kerala's keeper in SMAT 2025.