As of now, it appears that Sanju Samson will need a stroke of luck to start as the primary wicket-keeper batsman in the Indian team in the longer version of the white-ball format of the game. Currently, he will be travelling with the men in the blue team as a standby for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka from September 2 onwards.
 
The senior selection committee has chosen K.L. Rahul (subject to fitness) and Ishan Kishan for the stumper’s work. It’s a thankless job, in particular in white ball cricket. Kishan is a left-hander and is considered an advantage to an Indian batting lineup that has right-handers in the top half in Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli. They will be followed by Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.
 
The Patna-born Kishan is 25 and he made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on July 18, 2021, five days before the Thiruvananthapuram-born Samson, 28, made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The head coach of the Indian team then was Rahul Dravid and Shikhar Dhawan, the captain. Both Kishan and Samson were part of a second-string team in Sri Lanka when the main team was in England.

Kishan has played 17 ODIs and Samson, 13; both go after the bowling and keep the scoreboard rattling. These two are examples of the way they have been influenced by the Twenty20 format and have kept the selectors and fans engaged.

It’s just the necessity to have a left-hander in the mix that has demanded of skipper Sharma and Dravid, and thereby the selection committee,  to pick Kishan over Samson. The team management and the selection committee had to choose one of them in the absence of Rishabh Pant who is on a long road to recovery after a car crash last year. 

Samson though was distinctly unlucky not to have made it for the World Twenty20 in Australia last year. His selection seemed certain once skipper Sharma spoke about the Keralite’s special skill - to clear the long boundaries in Australia— but post the IPL 2015, it was Dinesh Karthik who travelled for the World Twenty20.

Samson has always riveted attention upon himself while turning out for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. He has the instinct to flay the bowling, an attitude, and approach that comes with a rider of a high-risk quotient. He has never tried to change his style, encouraged always to put the bowling to the sword. He made a run a ball 46 with 5 x 4s and 1x6 in his first ODI appearance. Thereafter he has made 390 runs off 375 balls with 3 x 50 scores of 54, 86 not out, and 51. He has been part of nine ODI wins. 
 
Kishan has scored 694 runs with one century and six half-centuries off 646 balls.  The Jharkhand left-hander has scored 425 as an opener with a scoring average of 7.50, 163 at No.3, and 106 at No.4. Kishan is looked at as an option for the top-of-the-order slot. In contrast, Samson’s aggregate is scattered over four batting order numbers; 3 to 6. 

Samson is in the team because no one is clear about when K.L. Rahul (he had kept wicket in 18 ODIs in 54 matches). But the good thing is Samson is in the fray. It’s up to him to grab the opportunities when it comes. It could be either in the Asia Cup or the three-match ODI series against Australia at home before the start of the ICC Cricket World Cup. It’s a matter of luck now for Samson to get a big breakthrough in a multi-nation competition at the continental and global levels. Time will tell.

Samson has been part of the India Twenty20 team since 2020, although he made his Twenty20 international debut in July 2015. He played in the recent five-match Twenty20 series against the West Indies and scored 12, 7, DNB, DNB, and 13. In all, he has played 22 matches and scored 333 runs at 18.50. Samson is still in the scheme of things because the team management thinks he is out of the ordinary.

When the IPL comes during every Indian summer, Samson becomes an important player and captain for the Rajasthan Royals. He has made a big impact in the Twenty20 league for Clubs; when chances come for India, he has to make it count.