Sanju Samson finished the T20 World Cup 2026, scoring three back-to-back half-centuries. During the Indian Premier League 2026 season, he was in sublime form for the Chennai Super Kings, scoring two centuries, including 477 runs at an average of 43.36. Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers opined that the call to omit Rishabh Pant was obvious, but he felt Samson was close to returning to the ODI format for the England series.
“Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul the two top wicket-keepers. The big thing there is no Pant, no Samson. Samson must have been close, closer than Pant, as he had a really good IPL but also prior to that, showing signs of form. Not a lot of surprises there, but just for Samson, I feel he was close,” he said on his YouTube channel.
De Villiers also mentioned the omission of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a century in his previous game against Afghanistan.
“Virat Kohli back. Little bit of a tough one on Jaiswal, who was back in Virat’s place, scoring the hundred and now he’s got to make way. No complaints there but it just a little bit harsh on players sometimes when your King comes back, when the man players come back, there is a process they are looking at. So truly makes sense for Virat to step in there and make sure he maintains the kind of form he showed in the IPL,” he stated.
Kohli, who sustained a hamstring injury during the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad last month, will be available for the series only after obtaining the necessary fitness clearance, the BCCI announced in its statement.
Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out of the series after failing to regain fitness from the injury sustained during the IPL season with the Mumbai Indians.
India ODI squad for England tour: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli*, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar.
