By R. Rakendu
Former Indian captain and coach Ravi Shastri has suggested that Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma should open the innings for India in the Asia Cup that began from 9th September, 2025. There are a lot of ongoing talks and discussions in the cricket world about India’s playing eleven. With Test captain Shubman Gill joining the T20 team as vice-captain after a break, cricket experts are saying that Sanju will not get a place in the playing XI and Gill will open with Abhishek instead of Sanju.
However, Shastri spoke in support of Sanju. He also pointed out that Sanju deserves to retain his position as an opener. ‘Samson is a player who becomes more dangerous than any other position when he comes out as an opener. If he is in form, he can win the game alone. We need to keep him as an opener,’ said Ravi Shastri. Shastri says his opinion openly without hesitating. This remark comes out when Suryakumar is all set to lead the team to India’s first match of Asia Cup 2025, against UAE that is scheduled on 10th October, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. Indian Standard Time (IST).
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju entered as the opening batter of Team India last year. He scored 861 runs in 41 T20 matches. He has scored three international T20 centuries in 12 innings as an opener. His strike rate is 152.38. Sanju has often shown disappointing performances when he was moved down the batting order from the opening role. With this, it was almost certain that the player would be played in the opening role, when the selectors brought Gill, who had not been considered in the T20 format for more than a year, into the team. With this, rumors intensified that Gill would be played as an opener along with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju would be played in the middle order.