After slamming three centuries in the five innings, wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson has been rewarded with captaincy for the Kerala team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. During his recent outings, Samson was in sensational touch, where he slammed centuries against Bangladesh and South Africa in two recent T20I series.
Samson has been handed the captaincy duties of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad announced by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA). The tournament is set to take place from November 23 to December 15. he recently played under Sachin Baby’s captaincy in the Ranji Trophy.
India do not have a white-ball game until January, which makes Samson available for his stateside for the complete Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. The Indian team is currently on a tour to Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar series.
Kerala are placed in Group E alongside Goa, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Services, Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh. The Kerala side will be playing all of its matches at the Gymkhana Ground and the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
Coming back to Samson, the wicketkeeper batter has slammed three centuries in five of his recent T20Is. He hit back-to-back tons against Bangladesh and South Africa before hitting another hundred against the Proteas later in the series.
He hit a century in the third and final T20I against Bangladesh before getting to another three-figure mark against South Africa in the 1st T20I. Samson had become the first Indian to hit back-to-back T20I tons. He was dismissed for two ducks in the next two outings before hitting another hundred in the fourth and final T20I of the series.
Kerala will open their campaign on November 23 with a clash against Services in Hyderabad.
Kerala squad:
Sanju Samson (c), Sachin Baby, Rohan Kunnummal, Jalaj Saxena, Vishnu Vinod, Mohd. Azharudeen, Basil Thampi, S Nizar, Abdul Basith, A Scaria, Ajnas EM, Sijomon Joseph, Midhun S, Vaisakh Chandran, Vinod Kumar CV, Basil NP, Sharafudeen NM, Nidheesh MD