Kerala's Sanju Samson wants to undergo treatment for a mucus cyst on his lower lip, which will rule him out of the third round of the Ranji Trophy season which begins this Saturday. He has opted for the procedure so he can be fully ready for India's T20I tour of South Africa in November, having recently received the backing of the team management to be their new opening batter.
Samson repaid that faith in the last T20I that he played, two weeks ago against Bangladesh, scoring a century that served as the foundation of a total of 297 for 6. Immediately after that performance, he made himself available to play the second round of the Ranji Trophy for Kerala, but that four-day game, in Alur against Karnataka, was rained out with only fifty overs of the first innings possible. Samson was at the crease unbeaten on 15 off 13 balls with two fours and a six to his name when play was called off on the second day never to resume.
Kerala, who are in second place on the Group C table with a win and a draw, will play Bengal from October 26 to 29 in Kolkata. Samson will not be with them, a KCA official confirmed on Thursday, and they may have to make do without him in the longer term as well because if he is picked for the T20Is in South Africa, which begin on November 8 and end on November 13, he will be unavailable for their matches against Uttar Pradesh (November 6-9) and Haryana (November 13-16).