It looks like India cricket team star Sanju Samson is gearing up to embrace a new role in the upcoming Asia Cup 2025. The Kerala keeper-batter has lost his opening position in T20Is to Shubman Gill as the latter is all set to return to the shortest format of the game for the first time since July 2024. While Sanju Samson is unlikely to be shunted out of India’s playing XI in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, he could very well be batting at a position that he hasn’t done so too many times in the past.
Sanju Samson was expected to open the innings for Kochi Blue Tigers in their opening match of the Kerala Cricket League on Thursday. However, he demoted himself to the middle-order and was slotted to bat at number 5 instead. The keeper-batter never got a chance to bat in the contest against Adani Trivandrum Royals but surely provided a glimpse of what is expected to come in the Asia Cup.
With Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma set to open the innings for India at Asia Cup, Samson has no choice but to bat at number 5 or 6. Number 3 is a position at which he was tasted most success in T20s but that spot is likely to be occupied by Tilak Varma. While batting at 5 and 6 in T20s, Sanju Samson has played 15 and 14 matches respectively where he has amassed 108 and 128 runs. On the other hand, while batting at number three, Sanju Samson has managed to score 4136 runs at an average of 35.65, including three hundreds.
Rahul Dravid has closely followed Sanju Samson’s journey, from his early days as a talented youngster to his current role as the Rajasthan Royals captain. Having worked with him at different stages,Rahul Dravid sees Sanju Samson as a leader who has evolved through experience and curiosity.Rahul Dravid has a long-standing working relationship with Sanju Samson, who came through the under-19 ranks on his watch.
Rahul Dravid has a special mention about Sanju Samson reminding his stints from U19 days ahead of Asia Cup 2025
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid recently went on to express gratitude that several players from his U19 batches went on to represent the Indian cricket team. He pointed out several names including wicket-keepers Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant . The 52 -year old stressed that both of these cricketers showed extraordinary skills at a very young age. Notably the duo was a part of the Indian team setup which recently won the 2024 T20 World Cup under the coaching of Rahul Dravid.
Speaking to Ravichandran Ashwin on his Youtube channel(via Kutty Stories) Rahul Dravid said :
“When you see Rishabh for the first time, you could feel that this guy is something different. If I look back at the 2016 batch… Even someone like Khaleel Ahmed – he’s sort of still finding his way, not being able to crack that way. As you move on, Shubman Gill was pretty much in the next batch. There was Prithvi Shaw.
“When I first saw Sanju Samson, I worked with him, but when I first saw Sanju as an 18-year-old, he looked like a million bucks. So many names are not mentioned, and I would be unfair [to them]. It’s not one kid that makes you, ‘wow,’ [but] it’s just the talent coming through the Indian system that makes you go wow.”
Sanju Samson has played 42 T20Is and has scored 861 runs at a strike rate at of 152.38, with three hundreds and two fifties to his name. With the Asia Cup serving as a starting point, India are set for a busy T20 schedule leading up to next year’s World Cup at home. They will play 15 more T20 internationals after the continental event.
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