IND vs NZ, 3rd ODI: Shashi Tharoor takes jibe at Rishabh Pant, slams team management for dropping Samson
IND vs NZ, 3rd ODI: Shashi Tharoor of the Indian National Congress and the MP of Thiruvananthapuram has been very critical about Rishabh Pant and has suggested him to take a break from white ball cricket. In his tweets, Tharoor has also questioned the logic behind dropping Sanju Samson
IND vs NZ, 3rd ODI: Sanju Samson's case has been something that is taking the entire cricketing world by surprise. The wicketkeeper-batsman, despite his continued performances, finds himself on the bench and fails to get enough opportunities to play for India. For a long time, before making his India debut, Samson was considered a successor to MS Dhoni, but certainly, things did not pan out that way and the scenario ain't changing either.
If we take the ongoing India vs New Zealand ODI series into consideration, we will certainly get a clearer picture of how the team management still chooses to go with reputation and not performance. In the first ODI (One Day International) that was played in Auckland, team India were in all sorts of trouble. They were reeling at 160/4 and needed someone to stand strong with Shreyas. As usual, Sanju rose to the occasion and stitched a 94 runs partnership with the KKR skipper. Samson scored a gritty 36 off 38 deliveries. Come to the second ODI, he was dropped, yet again and things did not change in the third ODI too.
Now the prolific leader of INC (Indian National Congress), MP for Thiruvananthapuram, and author of 24 books Shashi Tharoor has opened up on the Samson & Pant conundrum and he did not mince words.
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Tharoor tweeted:
One more failure for Pant, who clearly needs a break from white-ball cricket. One more opportunity denied to Sanju Samson who now has to wait for the IPL to show that he’s one of the best top-order bats in India. Pant has done well at No. 4, so it is important to back him, says VVSLaxman281.He's a good player out of form who's failed in ten of his last 11 innings; Samson averages 66 in ODIs, has made runs in all his last five matches & is on the bench. Go figure.
The Indian team management will be under serious pressure now as fans and experts all across the globe have started to root for Sanju Samson and have started to question Rishabh Pant's place in the Indian team as far as the white ball format is considered.