Rishabh Pant vs Sanju Samson - ODI record and stats

Sanju Samson once again fell behind in his competition with Rishabh Pant, however, this time for no fault of his. Samson, who literally smashed a ton in the last ODI India played in December 2023, wasn't picked in India's squad for Sri Lanka ODIs with Pant returning to the fold and KL Rahul being already there

Sanju Samson, who was vice-captain in the Zimbabwe T20 series, was retained in the T20 setup but ignored for the ODIs despite averaging 56.67 in the format

In 16 ODIs, Samson has 510 runs to his name at a strike rate of 99.6, including three fifties and a fantastic 108 against South Africa in the series decider last December

Samson has the runs and performances to show for this time around but with the Champions Trophy on the mind, he isn't in the first two choices for selectors in ODIs. Unless he blasts it in the three T20Is and Rishabh Pant doesn't get big scores in the Sri Lanka ODIs, Samson may not get much chances in ODIs before the Champions Trophy 2025

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant is coming off a middling T20 World Cup campaign. Pant last played an ODI in November 2022 and even though KL Rahul is the first-choice keeper in the format for India as of now, he might play as an extra batter since Hardik Pandya has withdrawn from the three matches for personal reasons

Pant, who made his ODI debut back in 2018, hasn't made his format own as he averages just 34.6 after playing 30 matches in the 50-over games

Rishabh Pant has scored 865 runs in 26 innings in the ODIs. While his strike rate of 106.66 has been good, Pant hasn't been as consistent in the white-ball formats like Tests

Pant's last few scores in ODIs include a duck, 15, 10 and his only century in the format (125*) against England in 2022. Pant has five fifties as well in the format but is yet to make ODIs his own

For now, despite the results, Pant seems to be winning the wicketkeeper spot's battle against Samson and is likely to be preferred across all three formats. And the story remains the same for Samson, he just can't afford to fail.