Sanju Samson out of India squad; Ashok Sharma earns maiden call-up for Zimbabwe tour

NEW DELHI: Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has been left out of India's T20I squad for the upcoming three-match series against Zimbabwe after a poor run of form.The selectors announced a 15-member squad for the tour, with Shreyas Iyer named captain. Teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who recently made his international debut, has retained his place in the squad. Rajasthan fast bowler Ashok Sharma also received his maiden call-up to the senior India squad. He has been rewarded for his impressive performances with his first-ever call-up to the senior India T20I squad. The pacer had earlier been drafted into the India A squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka.Poor run costs Samson his placeSamson has struggled for runs in recent matches.He was dropped from India's playing XI for the second T20I against England after scoring just one run off seven balls in the opening match.Before that, he also had a disappointing series against Ireland, where he scored 0 and 5 in the two T20Is.His omission from the Zimbabwe squad comes after a string of low scores despite being one of India's key players in the shortest format.The exclusion is a big setback for Samson, who played a crucial role in India's recent T20 World Cup-winning campaign. He was awarded Player of the Tournament award.India's T20I squad for ZimbabweShreyas Iyer (Captain), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma (Vice-Captain), Ishan Kishan (WK), Shivam Dube, Suryansh Shedge, Rinku Singh, Harsh Dubey, Varun Chakaravarathy, Prince Yadav, Yash Thakur, Ashok Sharma, Mayank Yadav and Prabhsimran Singh (WK).India ODI squadThe Men's Selection Committee also named Shivam Dube as Nitish Kumar Reddy's replacement in India's ODI squad.Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (Vice-Captain), KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Shivam Dube.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.