Shashi Tharoor feels one player should have been rested for allowing Sanju Samson to play on his home ground

One of the biggest talking points around Indian cricket- apart from questions around Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future- is around the plethora of opportunities to the underperforming Rishabh Pant and whether the southpaw should make way for Kerala‘s swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson. The crowd was hopeful that their homeboy will finally get a chance to represent his country against the West Indies.

Even the biggest cheer was reserved for the local boy when he came to the ground just prior to the game. However, on expected terms, the crowd was left disappointed when it was confirmed that Samson will have to wait for another day before he dons the national colours as Kohli and the team management decided to go ahead with Rishabh Pant. Samson’s exclusion in recent games has led to a huge furore on social media. And, the same thing happened on Sunday.

Not only the fans but prominent public figures like Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been quite vocal around Samson’s exclusion. And, Tharoor was at it again. According to the politician, one of the players should have been rested to make way for the local boy Samson play in front of his home crowd.

“Most of us hoped the Indian team would have made the gesture of resting a player to allow @IamSanjuSamson to play in front of his home crowd. We would have inspired him to great feats of derring-do,” Tharoor wrote on his Twitter account.

Most of us hoped the Indian team would have made the gesture of resting a player to allow @IamSanjuSamson to play in front of his home crowd. We would have inspired him to great feats of derring-do! https://t.co/GD674xul95

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 10, 2019

Sanju Samson unlikely to get a chance in the 3rd T20I

The talk for Samson started getting loud after the Rajasthan Royals batsman smoked the fastest double-century by an Indian during the Vijay Hazare fifty-over domestic tournament. The Kerala lad got his chance to feature in the 15-man squad for the three-match series against Bangladesh. However, even as Pant struggled in front as well as behind the wickets, Samson was consigned to the bench.

He was even dropped from the squad without having played a game for the series against the West Indies and it was only after Shikhar Dhawan’s injury that paved way for the Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman into the set-up. With the series locked at 1-1 and Pant scoring an unbeaten 22-ball 33, it is unlikely that Samson will get a chance in the decider at the Wankhede.

Watch: Dane Vilas’ stunning scoop in MSL 2019