Rishabh Pant faces Sanju Samson threat as India turn attention towards 2027 ODI world Cup: Report

[vvvslaxman]

https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/rishabh-pant-faces-sanju-samson-threat-indian-odi-team-14006156.html

 

Rishabh Pant, who is struggling for form in the ongoing Indian Premier League, is in grave danger of losing his spot in the Indian ODI side as selectors could prefer Sanju Samson over the Lucknow Super Giants captain, a report in a major newspaper has claimed.

Currently, KL Rahul is India’s first choice wicketkeeper in ODIs, with Rishabh Pant being second in charge. He was part of the squad against New Zealand earlier this year before being ruled out of the series due to a side strain.

Samson threatens Pant’s ODI spot
And it seems like Pant’s return to the 50-over format is going to be very difficult as the BCCI selectors are more interested in giving a chance to Samson, who recently helped India win the T20 World Cup 2026 at home, claims a report in Dainik Jagran.

The 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa is not far, and the management is focussed on building the team for the same. India will play 20 ODIs home and away before the World Cup, including the upcoming three-match home series against Afghanistan that starts on 14 June.

But as Pant has struggled for form since returning from the side strain and scored only 189 runs in eight IPL 2027 matches at an average of 27, he could see himself making way for Sanju Samson in India’s ODI side.

Interestingly, Pant has not played an ODI for India since a game against Sri Lanka in 2024.

On the other hand, Samson’s T20 World Cup heroics and recent twin centuries for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026 have caught the selectors’ attention, the report added.

Overall, Pant has scored 871 runs in 37 ODIs at an average of 33.50, while Samson has accumulated 510 runs in 16 matches at an average of 56.66. Clearly, the numbers are in Samson’s favour.

If Rishabh Pant loses his ODI spot, he could be out of India’s entire white-ball setup, having already fallen out of the T20 side.

 

[vvvslaxman]

I think we have to take to include Isan in the conversation

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

Ishan Kishan should be the no. 1 choice for wk. I would pick him ahead of Pant, Samson and KL.

[Suhaan]

8 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

I think we have to take to include Isan in the conversation

 

 

Kela may look good ,world class while playing random games,even go berserk against quality attacks

But in comes a pressure  orback to the walls situation kela turns into a sheep even a taildenser like Shami will show more courage and play his shots than this cuckool

Not the time to fool ourselves using his random games stats 

No amount of mental conditioning ,pep talk can treat frail minds

Edited May 1 by Suhaan

[Manucrick]

21 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

Kela may look good ,world class while playing random games,even go berserk against quality attacks

But in comes a pressure  orback to the walls situation kela turns into a sheep even a taildenser like Shami will show more courage and play his shots than this cuckool

Not the time to fool ourselves using his random games stats 

No amount of mental conditioning ,pep talk can treat frail minds

If we take Kela again he will repeat 2023

[mikeypbadana86]

1 hour ago, Manucrick said:

If we take Kela again he will repeat 2023

Messed up a dream world cup final for RO-KO and billion fans. His strike rotaiton and body language was so poor. The world cup final pitch was sluggish but kohly was scoring at strike rate of 90, KL rahul was not able to rotate strike.  Its sheer badluck we missed hardik pandya in the final too

[Manucrick]

24 minutes ago, mikeypbadana86 said:

Messed up a dream world cup final for RO-KO and billion fans. His strike rotaiton and body language was so poor. The world cup final pitch was sluggish but kohly was scoring at strike rate of 90, KL rahul was not able to rotate strike.  Its sheer badluck we missed hardik pandya in the final too

Kela is negative luck 

[Manucrick]

India should take Sanju for the South Africa World Cup he has already scored a century on a tough pitch in South Africa and pant is unfit  for international 

[Lone Wolf]

Samson

Jaiswal 

Kolly

Kishan

Iyer

Pandu

Axar/Reddy

Harshit 

Bumrah 

Mohsin

Kuldeep 

 

This should be some kind of line up for a ODI WC in SA.

 

Kishan with his left handedness and a beastly spin striking ability in the middle with Iyer.

 

Jaiswal Samson left right combo at the top. If Jaiswal doesn't works get Abhishek.

 

 

[Manucrick]

11 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Samson

Jaiswal 

Kolly

Kishan

Iyer

Pandu

Axar/Reddy

Harshit 

Bumrah 

Mohsin

Kuldeep 

 

This should be some kind of line up for a ODI WC in SA.

 

Kishan with his left handedness and a beastly spin striking ability in the middle with Iyer.

 

Jaiswal Samson left right combo at the top. If Jaiswal doesn't works get Abhishek.

 

 

This is good lineup vaibhav might be better than abhishek

[bowl_out]

As if it's a big surprise.

[Late Cut]

India wins all finals matches when a Mallu is on the team. 

[Ultimate_Game]

9 hours ago, Suhaan said:

Kela may look good ,world class while playing random games,even go berserk against quality attacks

But in comes a pressure  orback to the walls situation kela turns into a sheep even a taildenser like Shami will show more courage and play his shots than this cuckool

Not the time to fool ourselves using his random games stats 

No amount of mental conditioning ,pep talk can treat frail minds

 

9 hours ago, Manucrick said:

If we take Kela again he will repeat 2023

 

That's why I'll take Ishan over KL any day! Ishan has that clutch gene. Showed up in that Asia Cup match against Pak along with Pandya when we were 40 odd for 4. Pak have not been the same since that Ishan-Pandya onslaught!

 

That's the reason our T20 team is so good - coz it's clutch players - Ishan, Tilak, Pandya, Dube, Axar, Rinku, Bumrah, Arshdeep etc. The only mentally fragile players in that team are captain SKY and Sundar.

 

But when we move to ODIs, it's the opposite. We have likes of Gill (softie and another version of KL), KL, Jadeja, Sundar, Siraj etc. and oldies who're semi-retired in Rohit and Kohli. The only clutch players in our ODI team are Iyer, Pandya and Bumrah. That's why they're struggling while our T20 team is a beast.

 

Selectors have an opportunity to discard the phattu mental midgets and get in players who're clutch and don't disintegrate at hint of pressure and the starting point has to be discarding Gill and making Iyer the captain and getting in youngsters like Ishan, Jaiswal, Sooryavanshi (left field pick to replace Rohit), Tilak/Sai, and moving on from oldies and mental midgets.

[IndianRenegade]

Pant & KL should just play tests. They aren’t LOI material.

[Gollum]

1 hour ago, Ultimate_Game said:

The only mentally fragile players in that team are captain SKY and Sundar.

 

But when we move to ODIs, it's the opposite. We have likes of Gill (softie and another version of KL), KL, Jadeja, Sundar, Siraj etc.

You are mixing formats. 

 

Sundar is one of the clutchest test cricketers we have produced, literally every second test of his is a clutchness exhibition. In Eng, his bowling spell in Lord's gave us a winning chance. Then his 100 to save the test in OT, and onslaught in Oval, day 4 which took target beyond their reach and deflated them.

 

Likewise Jaddu is super clutch. Same guy who showed up in 2013 CT, 19 SF (with bat and ball) and countless times in tests, his partnership with Rahane in MCG '20 is what brought us back into the series, I am not even going to list all his examples because there will be 20+ tests which I will have to list down. 

 

These two are not fit for white ball, but clutch they are !!!!!! Insult to club the loser SKY with Sundar or KL with Jaddu. 

Edited May 1 by Gollum

[Ultimate_Game]

9 minutes ago, Gollum said:

You are mixing formats. 

 

Sundar is one of the clutchest test cricketers we have produced, literally every second test of his is a clutchness exhibition. In Eng, his bowling spell in Lord's gave us a winning chance. Then his 100 to save the test in OT, and onslaught in Oval, day 4 which took target beyond their reach and deflated them.

 

Likewise Jaddu is super clutch. Same guy who showed up in 2013 CT, and countless times in tests, his partnership with Rahane in BGT 20-21 is what brought us back into the series, I am not even going to list all his examples because there will be 20+ tests which I will have to list down. 

 

These two are not fit for white ball, but clutch they are !!!!!!

 

I meant in white-ball cricket. Same with Jadeja. Sundar and Jadeja are misfits in white-ball cricket and would be my top picks for Tests.

[Gollum]

3 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

I meant in white-ball cricket. Same with Jadeja. Sundar and Jadeja are misfits in white-ball cricket and would be my top picks for Tests.

Yes. They are clutch but absolute misfits in white ball, ability is lacking. 

 

OTOH, likes of KL, Gill have ability but fall short in mental department. 

[Ultimate_Game]

Just now, Gollum said:

Yes. They are clutch but absolute misfits in white ball, ability is lacking. 

 

OTOH, likes of KL, Gill have ability but fall short in mental department. 

 

Agreed. Should've mentioned Sundar and Jadeja are limited due to their abilities. KL, Gill, Siraj are mental midgets.

[Lord]

On 4/30/2026 at 5:20 PM, Ultimate_Game said:

Ishan Kishan should ovenbe the no. 1 choice for wk. I would pick him ahead of Pant, Samson and KL.

 

Flat pitches also differ country wise.

 

Kishan is perfect for low and slow pitches in SC not sure he can handle bounce in SA. 

 

Samson has proven himself only concern is batting position

Edited May 1 by Lord

[bowl_out]

22 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Ishan Kishan should be the no. 1 choice for wk. I would pick him ahead of Pant, Samson and KL.

Sanju has shown more adaptability across different kinds of tracks, and is more versatile than Ishan.

Also, Ishan is the worst keeper out of the 4.

Pant>Sanju=KL>Ishant just on keeping prowess