Harbhajan Singh urges Sourav Ganguly to change BCCI selection panel

New Delhi, Nov 25: Out-of-favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has requested BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to change the selection committee, stating "strong people" need to be in that panel.

The MSK Prasad-led selection committee has been facing criticism for not including Sanju Samson in the limited-overs squad for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against West Indies.

Following Samson's omission, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had expressed his disappointment. "Very disappointed to see Sanju Samson dropped without a chance. He carried the drinks for three T20Is & has been promptly discarded. Are they testing his batting or his heart?" Tharoor had tweeted.

On Monday, Harbhajan replied to the Congress' MP tweet and said: "I guess they are testing his heart #selectionpanelneedtobechanged, need strong people there… hope dada Sourav Ganguly will do the needful."

Ahead of the pink-ball Test, the five-member BCCI selection panel had met in Kolkata wherein he announced the squads for the limited-overs series, comprising three T20Is and as many ODIs.

Samson was part of the India T20I squad against Bangladesh. However, he did not get a chance to be a part of the playing XI in any of the three matches.

The name of the 25-year-old has been doing the rounds in recent times and with the World T20 up next year, the team management as well as the selectors are looking to keep options open as Rishabh Pant is yet to cement his place in the team in the limited-overs format.

Samson has represented India in one T20I game against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2015. He had scored 19 runs in the match which the Men in Blue had lost by 10 runs, chasing 146 on July 19.