In India’s Asia Cup XI Shubman Gill will begin the batting with Abhishek Sharma. But what does that mean for Sanju Samson? Former captain of the Indian national cricket team Sunil Gavaskar made some daring selection calls as he named his India XI for the Asia Cup 2025.As concerned to top-order the return of Shubman Gill has made things complicated. As before of Shubman Gill return Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson had formed a intimidating pair in T20Is. But now after Shubman Gill return it will force management to break that partnership of Sharma and Samson. Many of people are thinking that Gill’s inclusion in the squad would see Samson warm the bench. But Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t think so.
In a chat with Sports Today, Sunil Gavaskar told that Samson and Gill can co-exist in the same XI, with the former taking up a middle- order role in the team.
“He can still be in the team as somebody batting down the order. He can bat at 5 or 6. He shouldn’t be left out, after all he’s the wicket-keeper. Sanju is a very gifted player; he can adapt,” told Gavaskar. “He is used to batting down the order, we shouldn’t be too worried about him, he is a class act”
“Your first choice XI and your batting order will depend on a lot of things, like what the pitch is like, who the opposition is, what their bowling attack is. The two certainties would be Abhishek and Shubman Gill, the two Panjab boys opening the batting together, that would be my opening pair. 3 and 4 would be Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav,” told Gavaskar.
“Depending on what the score is or what you need, you either put Hardik Pandya a little bit ahead, or Sanju Samson goes in to bat, there is also somebody like Axar Patel who can come in and bat, how well he batted in the final of the T20 world Cup in Barbados. That would be the way to go,” told Gavaskar
In the bowling side, according to Gavaskar Harshit Rana doesn’t made place in playing XI, preferring the pairing of Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.
