Asia Cup 2025: Sanju Samson has earned his spot as opener and should be persisted with

In the last one year India has opened with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. (Photo: BCCI)

There has been much talk about Shubman Gill’s inclusion in the Asia Cup squad and him being made the vice-captain of the team. Make no mistake Gill is an exceptional player. He had a stellar tour of the UK and is India’s red ball captain. In fact, he will soon be India’s 50 over captain as well. But that doesn’t mean he will have to be picked as opener in the Asia Cup squad.

In the last one year India has opened with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. And the truth is both of these players have done extremely well in their roles. Samson has gone on to credit Surya Kumar Yadav, the captain, and Gautam Gambhir, the Head Coach, for giving him the confidence at the top of the order to excel and suggested that it is the long rope that he was given as opener that made all the difference. Now that he has performed and given results, he absolutely needs to be persisted with at the top of the order. While Gill has done well for GT in the IPL, there is no reason why Samson has to be replaced to accommodate Gill.

Can Gill play at number 3? Yes he can and that’s where India’s white ball riches come into play. While the captain Surya Kumar Yadav will bat 4, the question is who will bat at numbers 3 and 5? India has Tilak Verma who has done well and it will be unfair if he is overlooked. There is Gill who is being looked at as India’s future all format leader and then there is Shreyas Iyer who had a fantastic IPL and had led the Punjab Kings to the final. Also, India will have the option of using Axar Patel as floater in the number five position. Whoever among the ones mentioned misses out, it will be a hard call. As someone in the know rightly said, “This has to be a very pleasant headache to have”.

Personally I’d like to see Sanju Samson being persisted with at the top of the order for India. Abhishek Sharma will not hold back and these two players have given India gun starts in the last two years. To push Samson down to 3 will be a disruptive move and there is no real need to fix something that doesn’t need fixing.

Could it then be a shoot off between Gill, Iyer and Tilak? If Gill is picked, he has to play. The very same can be said of Iyer. To see either of the two being picked and not included in the first eleven will be a travesty. And that’s where Tilak’s position comes under the scanner. He hasn’t done anything wrong and deserves to retain his spot in the team.

In white ball cricket India has the bench strength to field two teams, which are capable of beating the best on their day. That’s what the IPL has helped achieve and that’s where it has added to Indian cricket’s riches. For the moment all eyes will be on the selection committee when they sit down to pick the team in a few days from now.