NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has strongly criticised the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for their handling of Sanju Samson, attributing his exclusion from Team India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad to the state cricket board’s actions. Tharoor alleged that administrative “egos” within the KCA have jeopardised Samson’s career.
“The sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson — the player wrote to KCA, in advance, regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments, and was promptly dropped from the squad — has now resulted in Sanju’s exclusion from the Indian team,” Tharoor wrote on X.
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“A batsman who has a highest score of 212* in the Hazare, who averages 56.66 in ODIs for India (including a century in his last outing, against South Africa) is having his career destroyed by the egos of cricket administrators,” he further added.
The controversy stems from Samson’s omission from Kerala’s Vijay Hazare Trophy squad in December 2024. Reports suggest the decision followed Samson’s failure to attend the preparatory camp, despite his prior written explanation to the KCA. Kerala enforced their policy requiring players to attend the camp, leading to Samson’s exclusion.
Tharoor also criticised the KCA for Kerala’s performance in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where the team failed to reach the quarterfinals. “Doesn’t it bother the KCA bosses that by leaving Sanju out, they ensured Kerala didn’t even reach the quarter-finals?” he questioned.
Earlier, Samson captained Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25, where the team narrowly missed the knockouts, winning four of six matches. However, for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Salman Nizar led the side after Sachin Baby’s injury.
India squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
- Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja.
