Former Indian fast bowler Dodda Ganesh slammed selectors and team management after Sanju Samson was excluded from the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel have picked a plethora of new players but Samson found no place in the team.

Samson was dropped from the second T20I against England as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made his much-awaited debut.

The Kerala batter returned with scores of 5, 0 and 1 in the last three T20I innings and thus the pressure was building on him. However, Samson was the star of the show in the 2026 T20 World Cup, scoring 321 runs in five matches at a strike rate of almost 200 and was awarded Player of the tournament.

Furthermore, Samson had a decent run in IPL 2026, scoring 477 runs for Chennai Super Kings in 14 matches.

“Sanju Samson has every reason to feel hard done by. The batter who helped India win its third T20 WC being booted out after just 3 games is simply ridiculous. He deserved better treatment,” Dodda Ganesh posted on X.

Meanwhile, a senior BCCI official revealed that Samson is part of Indian squad for the Asian Games and he hasn’t been dropped permanently.

“Why is this surprising that Sanju has been rested for Zimbabwe? People who are saying this should know Sanju is in the Asian Games squad in September. So those who are criticising the selection committee can do a bit of homework. What’s the point of carrying Samson when he won’t play? He is a senior guy,” a senior official told PTI (via News 18).

India squad for Zimbabwe T20Is: Shreyas Iyer (C), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Prabhsimran Singh (WK)