Ajit Agarkar, a former Indian cricketer and the current chairman of the BCCI selection committee, shockingly said that Sanju Samson only received playing time in India’s T20I team due to the absence of players like Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The admission is unexpected because many people thought that after senior players Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired, the wicketkeeper-batter would be given a longer run in the shortest format.
India's starting lineup has been regarded as one of the few stable positions since Gautam Gambhir was appointed head coach. Samson's spot in the starting lineup may be in jeopardy, though, since Gill's return to the lineup—now as vice-captain—strongly implies that he will regain the opening position for the Asia Cup.
“When you pick a T20I squad, you look at IPL performances as well. Because of overlapping series, a lot of players ended up playing T20 cricket when others were away with the Test team. That doesn’t take anything away from them as T20 players,” Agarkar told reporters, as quoted by India Today.
Agarkar also said that Abhishek Sharma’s performances made him undroppable; Sanju Samson was only in the opening slot as both Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal were not available for the shortest format.
“Sanju was playing because Shubman and Yashasvi were not available at that point. So was Abhishek. Abhishek’s performances make it hard to leave him out, plus his bowling is handy. Like I said, Shubman was the vice-captain the last time we played T20Is with a full squad, right after the last World Cup in Sri Lanka. Even then, we were thinking along those lines. Now that he is available, he has been picked,” he added.
When asked about the playing XI, Ajit Agarkar stated that the decision about the final playing combination will rest with captain Suryakumar Yadav and coach Gautam Gambhir.
“It’s their headache to pick the batting line-up. Our job was to pick the 15. We’ve got some real depth as far as T20 cricket is concerned, and we are very happy about it,” he concluded.
The Asia Cup 2025 will begin on September 9, and India will play its first game on September 10 against the UAE.
