Dubai: There were a few surprises on Tuesday as the Indian selectors announced the squad for the home series against New Zealand. One of the surprises was the non-selection of wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson – who is looked at as a T20 specialist. One of the reasons behind his Samson not getting picked is being looked at as the presence of three potential wicketkeepers in the side.

There is Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan. And in case the two of them pick up injuries, KL Rahul can easily fit in as the backup keeper. After getting ignored, the Rajasthan Royals captain dropped a tweet, indicating that if not contributing with the keeping gloves, he is more a handy outfielder. In four pictures, Samson can be seen diving full-stretch near the boundary ropes. One has to admit, the post is rather cryptic.

Samson is not just a star in the IPL where he amassed 484 runs at an average of 40.33 and a strike rate of 136.72 for the Royals in 2021. He is also one of the main players for Kerala. In 193 T20 matches, Samson has scored 4725 runs with three tons and as many as 29 half-centuries.

India’s T20I squad for the New Zealand series: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj

Meanwhile, there are speculations that Chennai Super Kings may be interested in Samson as Dhoni may not be in the role of playing in the next season.