Sanju Samson and KL Rahul's outstanding batting in the middle order, Rishabh Pant is going down; See the figures
Indian team Squad for Champions Trophy 2025, Samson vs Pant: Sanju Samson and KL Rahul's bat speak loudly in the middle order in ODI cricket. If we look at the figures, Rishabh Pant is nowhere near these two batsmen. Despite this, the selectors are giving him preference over Samson as a backup wicket keeper.
Champions Trophy 2025 will be organized from 19 February to 10 March. This time Pakistan is hosting this ICC tournament. But India will play all its matches in Dubai. The Indian team has not been selected for this yet. The ICC has set its deadline as January 12. It is being claimed in many reports that wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson will not get a place in this team. Rishabh Pant, who has been continuously proving to be a flop in ODIs, can be selected as a wicketkeeper.
The biggest concern of the Indian team in ODI cricket is their middle order. Where Samson and KL Rahul have performed brilliantly so far. If we look at India's middle order, KL Rahul has scored the most runs while batting between number 4 to 7. On the other hand, if we talk about average, then Sanju Samson has the best average. On the other hand, if we look at the worst performance, then Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant's name comes here.
KL Rahul has scored the most runs at an average of 40.41 while batting between number 4 to 7. After him, Shreyas Iyer has scored 3585 runs at an average of 39.39, Hardik Pandya has scored 709 runs at an average of 39.38 and Rishabh Pant has scored 853 runs at an average of 32.80. On the other hand, Sanju Samson has scored 335 runs at an average of 67.
Talking about the overall ODI career, till now in 27 innings of 31 matches, Pant has scored 871 runs at a modest average of 33.5. During this, only one century and 5 half-centuries have come from his bat. KL Rahul has scored 2851 runs in 72 innings of 77 matches at an average of 49.16. During this, he has scored seven centuries and 18 half-centuries.
On the other hand, Sanju Samson made his ODI debut for India in 2021. He has so far scored 510 runs in 14 innings of 16 matches at an average of 56.67. During this one century three half-centuries have come from his bat. Even after all this, it is almost impossible for Sanju to be selected in the Champions Trophy.
He also didn't feature in the selection list for the 2023 ODI World Cup, where a place was given to Suryakumar Yadav over Samson. This time, too, the preference is being given to Rishabh Pant over him as a backup wicketkeeper.
