Ever since the India squad for the Asia Cup 2025 was announced last month in Mumbai, Sanju Samson has made the headlines, with the questions arising whether the Kerala batter would make it to the final playing XI at the continental showpiece. The return of Shubman Gill in the Indian T20I setup has also complicated things.

With Gill not a part of the Indian T20I side for the past one year, Samson opened the batting in the shorter format with Abhishek Sharma. The right-hander justified his selection with two centuries against South Africa last year, thus cementing his spot in the top order.

But with Gill’s inclusion, following his super-impressive show against England in the recent Test series, Samson’s spot has come under doubt. Considering Gill’s as an opener, and Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya to follow, Samson doesn’t even find a place in the top five.

At such a scenario, a video is going viral on the internet where Suryakumar was seen pointing to Jitesh Sharma to asking for a hundred from the Uttar Pradesh batter. The incident took place at the ICC Academy post one of India’s training session where a fan asked the skipper for a century in the upcoming Asia Cup 2025.

In reply, Suryakumar took a pause before pointing towards Jitesh and said “isko bhi bolo (tell him also)” for a century. Although the conversation do not confirm Jitesh inclusion as the first-choice wicket-keeper, but by the look of it, it is highly-likely that Samson will warm the benches.

Why Sanju Samson might be ignored?

Based on recent media reports, the first day of India’s training session saw Samson settling himself on an icebox and spend most of the time watching his teammates sweat it out at the nets. Samson did bat at the nets but not as long as Tilak, Jitesh and Rinku Singh spent.

India will start their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against United Srab Emirates (UAE) on September 10, followed by the high-octane clash against Pakistan four days later. India will square off their group assignments against Oman on September 19.