Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar picked Sanju Samson to gain a spot as the wicket-keeper-batter in the team’s playing eleven at the Asia Cup, ahead of Jitesh Sharma.
“It is a very good headache to have for any selection committee – you have two capable batters and somebody like Sanju Samson who can bat at three, and if needed, come down at six as a finisher,” Gavaskar said in a media interaction organised by Sony Sports Network.
“And Jitesh has also done exceedingly well in the recently concluded IPL. But my feeling is that Sanju Samson will probably get the nod ahead of Jitesh, for at least the first couple of games. Then it depends on what his form is like for the rest of the tournament. If you take somebody like Sanju Samson in the core team, you cannot leave him out,” Gavaskar said.
The batting legend stated that Shubman Gill is primed to carry his brilliant Test form into the shortest format.
“Gill has been very successful in the IPL, so there is no question that he has got the capability of doing well in T20s. He has scored more than 750 runs in the just concluded England Test series – that augurs well even for the T20 tournament. Clearly, having him back in the T20 team is a no-brainer,” Gavaskar said.
The 76-year-old is not opposed to fielding three spinners — Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel — in the playing eleven in the United Arab Emirates.
“They could play Varun, Kuldeep, Axar as the three spinners, and field two new ball bowlers and Hardik Pandya as the third new ball bowler. That way they still have six bowlers,” Gavaskar said.
(Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Asia Cup 2025. Watch live coverage Asia Cup 2025 starting from 9th September 7:00 PM onwards on Sony Sports Ten 1, Sony Sports Ten 5, Sony Sports Ten 3 Hindi, Sony Sports Ten 4 Tamil & Sony Sports Ten 4 Telugu channels.).
Published – September 06, 2025 08:00 am IST
