Samson is competing with vice-captain Shubman Gill for the opening slot.
Once hailed as a prodigious talent, Sanju Samson made his India debut in 2015 at the age of 21. For the next five years, he was overlooked in the national side before he finally earned a call-up in 2020.
As of today, Samson has represented India in 16 ODIs and 42 T20Is, amassing close to 1400 runs across the white-ball formats with four hundreds and five half-centuries.
Under the regime of head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Samson got a fresh lease of life in T20Is last year and he repaid of the faith of the team management by smashing three centuries in back-to-back series against Bangladesh and South Africa at the top of the order.
While Samson is a part of India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad, top-order batter Shubman Gill’s return to the T20I fold as vice-captain has raised questions about whether the wicketkeeper-batter will get a chance to feature in the playing XI.
According to a PTI report, India’s net session from Monday evening at the ICC Cricket Academy Arena in Dubai suggests that Samson may not find a place in the XI for the Asia Cup opener against UAE on September 10.
Samson was the first player to enter the arena when India reached the venue on the eve of the start of the continental showpiece. He started with solo wicketkeeping drills under the watchful eyes of fielding coach T Dilip.
Gambhir then walked up to Sanju and had an intense three-minute chat, during which the latter did most of the listening. The coach appeared to be discussing the batting more than his keeping drills. However, Samson was not called to bat even once during India's batting practice session.
If the training session was any indication, Jitesh Sharma could be backed as the wicketkeeper-batter for the UAE clash. There was confidence in his strides as he emerged from the clubhouse, and looked relaxed as the batting drill began alongside Shivam Dube, Tilak Verma and Hardik Pandya.
Later, top-order batters Shubman Gill, skipper Suryakumar Yadav, and Abhishek Sharma fine-tuned their skills, not once but twice and thrice.
Samson reportedly got his opportunity when everybody was done and the nets cleared. The pre-tournament training session clearly indicated that India will find it really difficult to fit in Samson in the playing XI.
Rinku Singh was the other batter who did not get a chance to bat, another indication of his position in the pecking order. The southpaw eventually padded up when the net session had ended, and he faced throwdowns from a support staff.
(With PTI Inputs)