'Sanju Samson included in team by BJP', trolls on social media against leader who made the claim 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A BJP leader came forward claiming that Malayali Sanju Samson was included in T20 World Cup squad because of his intervention. He deleted the post after harsh responses started on social media. Reports said BJP leadership intervened to withdraw the post.

BJP media panelist member Jomon Chakkalakkal came forward with the claim. Jomon said through a Facebook post that Sanju was included in the team after the intervention of organization secretary Subhash. Jomon said that in a meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram, he had raised before Subhash that Sanju is not getting a chance in the Indian team. Subhash intervened after that and Sanju was included in the team. He also mentioned in the post that Subhash has enough connections to directly interact with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. There were widespread protests against the post. With this, he smelled trouble and deleted the post.

The 15-member Indian squad including Sanju was announced for the Twenty20 World Cup cricket tournament to be held in West Indies and America in June. Hardik Pandya is the vice-captain of the team led by Rohit Sharma. When experienced players like Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja joined the team, wicketkeeper-batsman K L Rahul was not included. Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh got a chance in the reserve bench.

It was Sanju’s good performance in the IPL that paved the way for Sanju to join the Indian team. Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju has scored 385 runs in nine matches this season including four fifties. Although he made his debut in the Indian team in 2015, Sanju only got a chance in 25 international Twenty20 matches.

Team: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shivam Dubey, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj.

Reserve Team: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan