Sanju Samson Not In Playing XI Plans? Report From Indian Nets Suggests… | Cricket News

Last Updated:September 08, 2025, 22:38 IST

Sanju Samson faces uncertainty in Team India as Gautam Gambhir prioritises batting depth, with Jitesh Sharma and Shivam Dube favoured during Asia Cup 2025 nets.

Sanju Samson or Jitesh Sharma – Who will find the spot in playing XI?

Being Sanju Samson these days is tough, especially with the risk of losing his spot in the Indian playing eleven as the team searches for the ideal combination.

When the Indian team arrived at the ICC Cricket Academy Arena for their evening net session ahead of the Asia Cup, Samson was the first to start his solo keeping drills with fielding coach T Dilip, while others were just warming up.

As per a report in PTI, He was highly focused and received praise for a full-stretched diving catch to his right. Head coach Gautam Gambhir then walked up to him. For three minutes, Gambhir engaged in a deep conversation with the Kerala player, who listened intently.

It seemed Gambhir was discussing batting rather than keeping drills.

Jitesh Sharma Guaranteed To Play?

Jitesh Sharma’s confident strides from the clubhouse indicated a lot. The RCB keeper appeared relaxed, and when batting drills began, he, along with Shivam Dube, Tilak Verma, and Hardik Pandya, took turns to bat, with the middle-order players getting the first go.

Interestingly, as this quartet batted, Samson returned to the ground in his batting gear but soon quietly walked away, sitting behind a palm tree near the dressing room clubhouse.

One by one, vice-captain Shubman Gill, skipper Suryakumar Yadav, and Abhishek Sharma, who also bowled, took turns to bat two or three times. Samson, however, was not called to bat even once.

Later, he approached the nets again but, realising he wouldn’t bat, casually sat on an ice box. Meanwhile, Dube, after a round of batting, bowled his medium pacers and again padded up to bat. Samson continued sitting on the ice box.

Finally, when everyone was done, Samson entered the nets. A net bowler delivered a half-tracker, and he missed. That summed up his day.

Rinku Singh didn’t even bother padding up, indicating that he is not in the current plans. Towards the end of the net session, he padded up and took throwdowns from a support staff member who wasn’t a specialist.

This shows where Rinku currently stands in the pecking order.

As the training session progressed, it became clear that fitting in Samson and placing Tilak at No.6, as Sunil Gavaskar suggested, wouldn’t be possible.

Gambhir’s focus has been on enhancing batting depth and including batting all-rounders. Hence, Jitesh Sharma as a finisher would also help keep a powerful six-hitter like Shivam Dube in the mix.

During Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s days and sometimes under Rahul Dravid’s coaching, net sessions often held a certain intrigue and didn’t clearly indicate what might happen.

But with Gambhir, what you see is what you get. Every minute of the net session reflects his match strategy, and Jitesh wouldn’t be batting for an hour two days before the first match if he wasn’t in his plans.

(With inputs from PTI)

Ritayan Basu

Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin…Read More

Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin… Read More

Read More