"Egos of cricket administrators...": Shashi Tharoor blames KCA

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday blamed the Kerala Cricket Association KCA for Sanju Samsons exclusion from Team Indias squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025In December 2024 Samson was left out of Keralas squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 202425 after he failed to participate in the preparatory camp before the tournament as reported by ESPNcricinfoTaking to X Tharoor attacked KCA and said that the state cricket board dropped Samson from their squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy which resulted in Sanjus exclusionThe fourtime MP from Thiruvananthapuram added that because of the egos of cricket administrators in KCA Samsons career has been destroyedThe sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson the player wrote to KCA in advance regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments and was promptly dropped from the squad has now resulted in Sanjus exclusion from the Indian team Tharoor wrote on XThe sorry saga of the Kerala Cricket Association and Sanju Samson the player wrote to KCA in advance regretting his inability to attend a training camp between the SMA and the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournaments and was promptly dropped from the squad has now resulted inhellipmdash Shashi Tharoor ShashiTharoor January 18 2025A batsman who has a highest score of 212 in the Hazare who averages 5666 in ODIs for India including a century in his last outing against South Africa is having his career destroyed by the egos of cricket administrators Doesnt it bother the KCA bosses that by leaving Sanju out they ensured Kerala didnt even reach the quarterfinals of the Hazare Where does this leave him he further addedEarlier Samson led Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 202425 where his team narrowly missed out on qualifying for the knockouts Kerala won four of six matches in the tournamentAccording to ESPNcricinfo Samson had written to the Kerala Cricket Association KCA where he stated the reason behind his unavailability for the camp However KCA stuck to their rule of only including players who have taken part in the preparatory campBatter Salman Nizar led the Kerala squad in the 50over domestic tournament after Sachin Baby was ruled out of the tournament as he suffered an injury during the Syed Mushtaq Ali TrophyMeanwhile a new challenge awaits Team India in the ICC Champions Trophy starting from February 19 till March 9 It will be hosted by Pakistan and UAE with India playing its matches in UAE under a hybrid modelThe eightteam tournament will feature 15 fiftyover matches and will be played across Pakistan and in DubaiThe biggest match of the tournament between two archrivals India and Pakistan will be played on February 23 India will start its campaign against Bangladesh on February 20 Indias last league match will be against New Zealand on March 2 The Rohit Sharmaled side will play all their matches in DubaiIndia announced its squad for the ICC event today The Rohit Sharmaled side will feature the likes of Virat Kohli Hardik Pandya and Shubhman Gill as his deputy Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant marked their return to the side while Mohammed Siraj missed outThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever