Former South African skipper AB de Villiers has opined that Sanju Samson would have been close to getting picked in India’s squad for England ODIs after having a decent run in IPL 2026 for Chennai Super Kings.
Samson scored 477 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 43.36 and a strike rate of 165.62 and ended as the highest scorer for CSK. Before IPL 2026, Samson scored 321 runs in five matches of 2026 T20 World Cup and was awarded Player of the tournament award.
“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,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
AB highlighted that Virat Kohli is back in India’s squad but admitted the selectors took a tough call to exclude Yashasvi Jaiswal from the ODI squad despite him scoring a century against Afghanistan in the third ODI.
“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.
The former RCB batter said it would be imperative for India to keep Jasprit Bumrah fresh ahead of the ODI World Cup.
“Bumrah returns, playing his first ODI since the 2023 World Cup final. Kudos to India for identifying one of the key members of the side and priority will be for him to be fit, fresh, mentally in a good place going into that World Cup. He was still fantastic as well, giving his best in the IPL, but I saw some cracks there. Maybe he was not completely fresh and not as motivated as usual. There was certainly something a little bit off about him,” he said.
Bumrah could only take four wickets in 13 matches of IPL 2026 for the Mumbai Indians.
