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Explained: Why Sanju Samson and Harshit Rana dropped by Gambhir, SKY in IND's 1st T20I vs SA

Anurag Dasgupta

Samson, Harshit dropped [Source: AFP Photo] Samson, Harshit dropped [Source: AFP Photo]

The Indian team is set to take on South Africa in the first T20I at the Barabati Stadium, Cuttack and once again, as the trend has been, the Men in Blue lost the toss as they were put into bat by South African captain, Aiden Markram. When Suryakumar Yadav, revealed the Indian playing XI, eyebrows were raised as two key players were snubbed.

In a surprising move, the team management dropped Sanju Samson and Harshit Rana from their playing XI, as Jitesh Sharma has been given a longer rope as a keeper in the side.

Revealed: Why Harshit, Samson were dropped by Suryakumar

In the pre-match presser on Monday, Suryakumar gave an indirect hint that Samson has been given a rope in the side, and while only the opening pair is fixed, the others need to play a flexible role. With the arrival of Shubman Gill at the top, Samson was demoted in the middle-order, and while he did well in the Asia Cup, the batter had a rare failure in the Australian tour.

In the only game where he batted there, Samson was placed at number 3 and the batter could only score 2 runs, and from the next game onwards, he was immediately replaced by Jitesh Sharma.

Team India needs a natural finisher in the playing XI, and having played that role for RCB, Jitesh knows what’s required from him as the team is banking on a proven finisher rather than a makeshift Samson who was demoted from his usual spot.

On the other hand, management is carefully managing Harshit Rana’s workload and he has just been rested from the first T2OI, and could be brought back for the second game.

Other big names dropped by India

Apart from Harshit and Samson, Team India have also dropped Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav from the playing XI. While Kuldeep might have the same case as Harshit (workload), Sundar’s case is different.

Team India have generally preferred Axar Patel alongside Varun Chakaravarthy in the T20Is, and Sundar’s recent lacklustre performances with the bat in the recently concluded ODI series could be a major reason why he was dropped from the playing XI.