Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey dropped by Kerala and Karnataka squads for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Tournament.
Sanju Samson has been left out of Kerala’s squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning December 21.
Following an internal decision to only accept players who attended a training camp before to the competition, the action was taken.
Samson captained Kerala in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2024–25. They won four of their six games but just missed making it to the knockout stages. Samson was removed from the 19-member long list after initially being included in the 30-member probable list.
The KCA has chosen to uphold its first decision, notwithstanding Samson’s letter to the organisation indicating his unavailability for the camp. Salman Nizar, a batter, has been selected captain for the 50-over competition since senior batsman Sachin Baby is also out with an injury sustained during SMAT.
Samson participated in five of Kerala’s six games at SMAT, making 135 runs. This including a half-century, after recording two T20I hundreds on the South Africa tour.
Karnataka appears to have “moved on” from several senior players in an attempt to start again, according to KSCA selection committee chair J Abhiram. This is causing turmoil elsewhere. Senior hitter Manish Pandey is one of those who was not taken into account.
According to the KSCA, Pandey’s departure at this time is solely due to his form, and a comeback appears “tough.” Karnataka finished fourth in the eight-team pool, losing to Baroda and Saurashtra. Pandey only scored 117 runs in five innings, preventing them from qualifying for the SMAT knockout stages.
“We as an association have realised that we need to move on from the players of old and bring in new blood,” Abhiram said. “We cannot live in past glory.”
The removal of Pandey from Karnataka follows several high-profile departures. Notwithstanding his impressive exploits in club cricket and the state-run Maharaja T20 Trophy. All-rounder K Gowtham has not been given consideration across formats since the end of the 2022–2023 season.
It now looks like the selection committee would be closely watching older players, including captain Agarwal, if they keep struggling.
“When we won the double-treble, it was a young Karnataka team,” Abhiram said. “We’re banking on youth once again to get us there.”