The India vs Ireland T20I series got underway at The Village in Dublin. New captain of India Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to field first. Hardik informed at the toss that Umran Malik was making his debut for the Indian team. Later, it was revealed that Sanju Samson was not playing in this match.
Many fans felt that Sanju Samson should have received a chance to play for the Indian cricket team in this series because Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are not available. However, the Indian team management went with Deepak Hooda as a replacement for Rishabh Pant in the batting order.
Hooda, who did an excellent job for the Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022, will likely bat at number three for the Indian cricket team in this series. Another player who got a place in the team today was Suryakumar Yadav who replaced Shreyas Iyer, having recovered from his injury.
Explaining the reason why Sanju could have been ignored, a Twitter user wrote:
“Going by hierarchy by the looks of it. Deepak Hooda picked ahead of Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi since he was in the squad for the SA T20s as well.”
Going by hierarchy by the looks of it. Deepak Hooda picked ahead of Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi since he was in the squad for the SA T20s as well #IREvIND
Advertisement— Soorya Sesha (@sooryasesha7) June 26, 2022
Sanju Samson played in the T20I series against Sri Lanka earlier this year
Sanju Samson was recalled to the Indian team for the home T20I series against the Sri Lankan cricket team. The captain Rohit Sharma also highlighted that Sanju will have a role to play for the team because his big-hitting skills could be handy in Australia.
After that, Samson had a memorable IPL season as he led the Rajasthan Royals to the final match of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League. It will be interesting to see if Samson gets a chance in the playing XI for the second T20I against the Ireland cricket team.
