The squad announcement for the South Africa tour brought some good news for the talented wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson and his fans as he got a recall into the Indian team for the ODIs. After being snubbed for the T20Is against Australia, Samson will be glad to be recalled for the ODIs and hope he can make himself regular in at least one format. Samson celebrated his recall with a quickfire cameo in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Puducherry smashing an unbeaten 13-ball 35 as Kerala chased down a small of 121 in less than 20 overs.
Kerala needed a big win to stay at the top in Group A since Mumbai also has the same number of points. Having bowled Puducherry out for just 116, Kerala had the opportunity and they made the most of it as Samson hit four 4s and three 6s to take his side home and the top of the table with just one Group A match remaining against the Railways.
Kerala and Mumbai both are on 20 points and Samson will be keen to take his side all the way.
Samson was a surprising omission from the T20 squad but that has helped him play the domestic one-day competition and return to the ODI side. Samson despite averaging 55.71 in the format, wasn't considered in the World Cup squad but now has a chance of staking his claim ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025 and the South Africa series will be an opportunity for him to become a regular.
India's squad for South Africa ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar
