Fans in Dubai went berserk as they spotted Sanju Samson coming out of a practice session ahead of Asia Cup 2025. A video of the same surfaced on social media as the players were seen coming out of the practice session at the ICC Academy in Dubai and Suryakumar Yadav quipped 'local boy' for Samson, given the attention he garnered.
The spotlight remains firmly on Samson as the Asia Cup 2025 looms large. Despite his exploits while opening for India in T20I cricket, the 30-year-old is not a certain starter in the multi-nation tournament as Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma could open the innings. On the wicketkeeping front, India have named Jitesh Sharma in the squad on the back of a promising IPL 2025 campaign for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and could be a handy option in the middle order.
Samson averages a decent 32.78 while opening in 17 T20I innings but has smashed three hundreds in those.
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"I think it's a very good headache to have for any selection committee" - Sunil Gavaskar
Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar stated in a recent interaction that Samson cannot be left in the reserves if he is in the squad and must be in the playing XI. He had said, as quoted by PTI:
"If you take somebody like Sanju Samson in the core team, then you can't leave him out in the reserves. Yes, I think it's a very good headache to have for any selection committee that you have two capable batters and somebody like Sanju Samson who can maybe even bat at three and if needed come down at six as a finisher. And Jitesh has also done well in the recently concluded IPL, where he's played exceedingly well. So yes, I think it's a pleasant headache for the tour selection committee."
India will open their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against hosts UAE on September 10 at the Dubai International Stadium. The Men in Blue are the defending champions, having won the 50-overs edition in 2023.
