India’s middle-order batter Sanju Samson has been ruled out of the two remaining T20I series against Sri Lanka. Samson reportedly did n♔ot travel with the squad to Pune and remained in Mumbai for the scans.
The 28-year-old hurt his knee 🥃in the 13th over of the second innings while fielding in th🐠e opening game at the Wankhede Stadium, where India pulled off a last ball thriller.
“Samson hurt his left knee while attempting to field a ball near the boundary ropes during the first T20I,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) release stated.
“He was taken for scans and a specialist opinion this afternoon (on Wednesday) in Mumbai by the BCCI Medical Team and has been advised rest and rehabilitation.”
The BCCI have named uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma as his replacement.
Jitesh performed exceptionally well in his debut IPL season last year. Representing Punjab Kings (PBKS), he amass💖ed 234 runs in the lower middle-order at a scintillating strike rate of 163.64. The Amravati-born has so far played 76 T20 games and his career strike rate is close to 150.
India squad for Sri Lanka T20Is:
Hardik Pandya (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sun𒐪dar, 🦋Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Mukesh Kumar.