There has been a debate regarding Sanju Samson’s future in the Indian Cricket team after Shubman Gill returned to the T20I side as vice-captain in the recently ended Asia Cup 2025. The wicketkeeper batter
was the leading run scorer for India in the T20Is in the year 2024 and had a great record as an opening batter in the shortest format. However, after returning in the squad, Shubman Gill took the opening spot with Abhishek Sharma while Sanju Samson batted in the middle-order in the Asia Cup 2025.
Batting mostly at number five, Samson couldn’t do any wonders in the Asia Cup but played a crucial knock of 24(21) and added 57 runs with Tilak Varma while the team was struggling after losing three wickets early. Looking at a change in his batting order despite a decent performance as an opener, the fans raised questions about why the management made changes in the batting order. However, India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav assured the fans that management is thinking of dropping Samson from the T20I setup and also opened up about Head Coach Gautam Gambhir’s plans for the wicketkeeper-batter.
I never thought that Sanju wouldn't play: Suryakumar Yadav
In his recent interview with Journalist Vimal Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the management isn’t planning to drop Sanju Samson from the T20I setup and the leadership group has been backing him. Suryakumar also revealed that inclusion of Jitesh Sharma and Shubman Gill has not nothing to do with Samson’s place and the management wants him to play impactful knock in lesser deliveries.
"Everyone thought that Shubman and Jitesh are in the team, so they started playing Jenga with the playing XI. I never thought that Sanju wouldn't play. During the first practice session, I was standing behind the nets with Gauti bhai and he said, 'He [Sanju] has done so well in the last 15-20 games. We can only tell him that the batting number will change, the impact should remain the same,” Suryakumar Yadav said.
"We explained it to him that he used to score 70 off 30 balls. Now you will play only 10 to 25 balls, or not bat in some matches but try to impact the games for the team whenever he bats,” the Indian T20I skipper further added.
