Danish Kaneria has suggested that there is favoritism within the squad after the Indian team management left Sanju Samson out of the playing XI in the second One-Day International against New Zealand.
Kaneria was critical of the idea of giving Rishabh Pant too many chances despite his failures in the white-ball format.
Danish Kaneria on Sanju Samson
There are several comparisons being attempted to determine which wicketkeeper-batter is superior between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. Pant’s legacy in tests has been set, but he is yet to replicate it in ODIs and T20Is. In actuality, Pant has 1842 runs in 95 white-ball games, including eight 50-run knocks and a century. Samson, on the other hand, has played fewer games than Pant – 27 in total – in which he has scored 626 runs, but his average in one-day internationals is substantially higher: 66 to Rishabh’s 35.
Danish Kaneria recently talked about the Rishabh Pant vs Sanju Samson debate on his YouTube channel.
“If I talk about ‘zyadti’ (excessiveness), Sanju Samson is the talk of the town. I don’t know what’s the reason behind it, whether it’s politics or if there’s liking or disliking that he gets dropped more often than not and Pant gets more and more opportunities. He was dropped even after scoring 36 runs. The sword always falls only on him,” Kaneria said.
Stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan stated that Samson was dropped for squad balance since all-rounder Deepak Hooda was required to be their sixth bowling option. Kaneria, on the other hand, believed Hooda should have replaced Pant rather than Samson in the starting XI.
In the limited-overs format, Kaneria thinks Sanju Samson would have performed better if India had backed him instead of Rishabh Pant because he has a different level of talent.
“The number of games that Pant got on a trot, if they had given the number of chances to Sanju, he must have performed far better for Team India because he is a player of a different class,” Kaneria added.
