The moment Shubman Gill was announced as India’s vice-captain for the Asia Cup, Sanju Samson’s fate was sealed. How can a team drop their deputy? If the management didn’t view Gill as a confirmed starter, would they have named him second to Suryakumar Yadav? The simple answer is no.
Several former cricketers agree with this point. Samson has been India’s opener for the last 12 months, but his last six months haven’t been great. And one can’t forget that he only came into the team as a temporary replacement for Gill in the first place.
No place for Samson in the top order
Ex-India wicketkeeper batter, Deep Dasgupta, thinks that Samson can’t find a place in India’s top four for the Asia Cup. Of course, Gill, being the vice-captain, plays a part in that. But he also can’t replace Tilak Varma, since that would break the right-left combination, which is a tactic Gautam Gambhir uses quite a bit.
“For me, I would say now that Shubman is the vice-captain, he definitely plays along with Abhishek Sharma. So that we have a left-right combination. At 3-4, I can’t look beyond Surya and Tilak (Varma) at this point. Again, left-hand, right-hand combination. I think in this format, if you have that option, you’ve got to look at keeping that going as long as possible through an innings,” Dasgupta told RevSportz.
Jitesh Sharma, India’s keeper for Asia Cup
If Samson can’t play in the top order, can he find a spot in the middle order? Dasgupta doesn’t think so. Jitesh Sharma, India’s other wicketkeeper, plays lower down the order and has been selected for this role. Without a doubt, Jitesh is the best finisher among all of India’s keeper-batters, and this gives him an edge here.
“And then we are talking about 5-6, I would say, Jitesh (Sharma). He is a better option than Sanju. If you can’t make a place for Sanju in the top 3, then it becomes a little difficult. So, if it comes down to 5-6-7, I think I’m going to pick Jitesh over Sanju,” he added.
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Standby: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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