Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh was left disgruntled by the exclusion of Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma and Yuzvendra Chahal from the respective white-ball squads for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. India are slated to play three T20Is and as many ODIs against Sri Lanka. The T20I leg will begin on July 27 in Pallekele, while the ODIs will be played in Colombo, between August 3 and 7.

The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee of the BCCI, along with the newly-appointed head coach of the men's team, Gautam Gambhir, decided to leave out the two centurions Abhishek and Samson from the squad for the Sri Lanka series. The younger player notched up a quickfire ton in only his second international appearance for India earlier this month in the series against Zimbabwe, but was dropped for the T20Is against Sri Lanka. Samson, on the other hand, who scored his maiden international hundred in India's last ODI match, in December 2023, was dropped from the 50-over series. He was, however, picked for the T20Is.

Harbhajan was also left baffled at the omission of Chahal, who was part of India's T20 World Cup squad last month. He made neither of the squads for the Sri Lanka series.

"Hard to understand why Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are not a part of the Indian team for Sri Lanka," Harbhajan Singh tweeted after the squad selection.

From what it seems, Samson is unlikely to be part of India's plans for the Champions Trophy tournament next year. With Rishabh Pant back, joining KL Rahul as the two wicketkeeping options in the ODI series, and India focussing on having more all-rounders in the line-up, Samson was ignored by the selectors.

Meanwhile, the squad announcement, made earlier this week, is likely to mark the end of the white-ball career for Chahal. With the leg-spinner to be 35 by the time of the next T20 World Cu[, in 2026, he is unlikely to be recalled for the T20Is, and seems to have lost his place in ODIs as well, with India backing fellow wristpsinner Ravi Bishnoi a specialist option with Champions Trophy in mind.

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