Sanju Samson has been called back to India’s Twenty20 International squad for the West Indies series after Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out due to an injury. The opening batsman suffered a knee injury during a domestic game, the Board of Control from Cricket in India confirmed on Wednesday.
Originally left out of the squad after not playing a match during the Bangladesh series, Samson got another opportunity to make a comeback in India colours. The Kerala batsman had made way, in effect, for Virat Kohli who was rested against Bangladesh.
Dhawan suffered a deep cut on his left knee during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy game against Maharashtra in Surat. The BCCI Medical Team assessed him on Tuesday to review the healing of his wound and suggested that Dhawan needs some more time for his stitches to come off and his wound to heal completely, the media release said.
Dhawan has also been struggling for form since making his return to the Indian side after an injury suffered during the 2019 World Cup. Samson, on the other hand, caught the selectors’ eye with a double century during the Vijay Hazare Trophy recently.
In another injury update, the board also said that India’s Test wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha sustained a fracture on his right ring finger during the recently concluded pink-ball Test in Kolkata against Bangladesh.
The BCCI Medical Team consulted a hand and wrist specialist and it was suggested that Saha undergoes a surgical fixing of the fracture. Subsequently, he underwent a successful surgery in Mumbai on Tuesday and will soon commence his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru, the release added.
The T20 series against the West Indies gets underway on December 6 in Hyderabad. The other two matches will be played in Thiruvananthpuram (December 8) and Mumbai (December 11).
India’s squad for three T20Is against West Indies: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma (VC), KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sanju Samson
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