{"id":8589,"date":"2025-08-28T10:49:58","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/sanju-samson-fires-again-in-kcl-strengthens-claim-for-asia-cup-openers-spot-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T10:49:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:49:58","slug":"sanju-samson-fires-again-in-kcl-strengthens-claim-for-asia-cup-openers-spot-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/sanju-samson-fires-again-in-kcl-strengthens-claim-for-asia-cup-openers-spot-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanju Samson Fires Again in KCL, Strengthens Claim for Asia Cup Opener\u2019s Spot | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-9534129\">\n<p><span class=\"jsx-3cea4b2331e41d4a\">Last Updated:<\/span><time class=\"jsx-3cea4b2331e41d4a\">August 28, 2025, 16:09 IST<\/time><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"asubttl-9534129\" class=\"jsx-ff263f4b724d470d jsx-36295604 asubttl-schema\">Sanju Samson shines for Kochi Blue Tigers in Kerala Cricket League with another half-century, as his Asia Cup playing XI spot remains uncertain.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 artsharwrp\">\n<div id=\"artshare\" class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 artshare\">\n<div class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 stickdiv\">\n<div class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 deskwrapstkdiv\">\n<div class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 fontchange\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/dlxczavtqcctuei\/news18\/static\/images\/english\/font.svg\" height=\"30px\" width=\"30px\" alt=\"font\" class=\"jsx-7dd6bcc4782610a2 lazyload\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"jsx-ff263f4b724d470d jsx-36295604 amimg\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sanju Samson scored a brilliant 62 in the Kerala Cricket League (Picture credit: X)\" title=\"Sanju Samson scored a brilliant 62 in the Kerala Cricket League (Picture credit: X)\" src=\"https:\/\/images.news18.com\/ibnlive\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1627283897_news18_logo-1200x800.jpg?impolicy=website&amp;width=400&amp;height=225\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"jsx-ff263f4b724d470d jsx-36295604\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sanju Samson scored a brilliant 62 in the Kerala Cricket League (Picture credit: X)<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p id=\"0\" class=\"story_para_0\">Even as his spot in the Asia Cup playing XI remains in doubt, Sanju Samson continues his flourish in the Kerala Cricket League, with the star India wicketkeeper-batter smashing yet another half-century for the Kochi Blue Tigers against the Trivandrum Royals on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"2\" class=\"story_para_2\"><span class=\"cf0\">After India\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/not-gill-sky-or-samson-sehwag-picks-3-game-changers-for-india-at-asia-cup-ws-l-9533172.html\">Asia Cup<\/a> team announcement, Samson\u2019s place in the XI remained uncertain, with <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Shubman<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> Gill named vice-captain, bagging his spot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"3\" class=\"story_para_3\">Coming out to open, Samson and his fellow opener Vinod Manoharan added 68 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed by Abdul Basith.<\/p>\n<p id=\"4\" class=\"story_para_4\">Kochi were reduced to 79\/2 in the ninth over before Samson and wicketkeeper Nikhil Thottath added 48 runs for the third wicket. The former was eventually dismissed by <span class=\"cf0\">Abhijith<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> Praveen V in the 15th over, for a 37-ball 62, a knock during which Samson hit four boundaries and five sixes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"6\" class=\"story_para_6\"><span class=\"cf0\">In the opening two matches of the Kerala Cricket League, Samson batted in the middle order, sparking speculation that he may have been signalled a new role for the Asia Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"9\" class=\"story_para_9\"><span class=\"cf0\">On Sunday, August 24, Samson was back at the top of the order, smashing 121 runs to guide his side to a win. He followed it up with a 46-ball 89-run knock on Tuesday and remains the second-highest run-scorer, only after Ahammed Imran.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"11\" class=\"story_para_11\"><span class=\"cf0\">While unveiling the Asia Cup team, chief selector <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Ajit<\/span> <span class=\"cf0\">Agarkar<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> clarified that Samson\u2019s earlier chances in the XI came just because <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Shubman<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> Gill and <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Yashasvi<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> Jaiswal were unavailable for T20Is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"13\" class=\"story_para_13\"><span class=\"cf0\">\u201cSanju was playing because <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Shubman<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> and <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Yashasvi<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> weren\u2019t available at that point. So was Abhishek. I mean, Abhishek\u2019s performances clearly make it hard to leave him out. Plus, his bowling is handy,&#8221; <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Agarkar<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> said while speaking to the media. <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"14\" class=\"story_para_14\">In all likelihood, Samson will be benched from the Asia Cup XI, with Gill all set to open with Abhishek Sharma. Jitesh Sharma will be the wicketkeeping option.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jsx-ff263f4b724d470d jsx-36295604 brdcrmb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/\">News<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/\">cricket<\/a>  <span class=\"brdout\"> Sanju Samson Fires Again in KCL, Strengthens Claim for Asia Cup Opener\u2019s Spot<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"coral-wrap\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f \">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coral-cont\">\n<div class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f coltoptxt\">Disclaimer: Comments reflect users\u2019 views, not News18\u2019s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/disclaimer\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Terms of Use<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/privacy_policy\/\" class=\"jsx-ba4d8f086a12294f\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"jsx-ff263f4b724d470d jsx-36295604 rmbtn news18_read_more\">Read More<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news18.com\/cricket\/sanju-samson-fires-again-in-kcl-strengthens-claim-for-asia-cup-openers-spot-ws-l-9534129.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Updated:August 28, 2025, 16:09 IST Sanju Samson shines for Kochi Blue Tigers in Kerala Cricket League with another half-century, as his Asia Cup playing XI spot remains uncertain. Sanju Samson scored a brilliant 62 in the Kerala Cricket League (Picture credit: X) Even as his spot in the Asia Cup playing XI remains in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}