'Axar Patel Ahead of Sanju Samson?' Gautam Gambhir Faces Backlash Over Treatment of India Wicketkeeper During Asia Cup 2025

Asia Cup 2025: Once Shubman Gill was made the vice-captain of the T20 side for the Asia Cup 2025, everybody who follow knew Sanju Samson had to find a new spot in the batting order. It was hard to understand where would Samson, who is a top-order batter, would fit in as the side also had Jitesh Sharma as the reserve keeper, who plays well in the middle-order. Finally Samson was slotted in at No. 5 against Pakistan in a Super Four game and he seemed out of place and that was understandable as he is a top-order batter. 

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And then in the game against Bangladesh, he was demoted as low as No. 8, which seemed to have baffled many. Former cricketer Varun Aaron explained the reasoning behind it. He reckoned the management wanted to give more time to Shivam Dube in the middle as the spinners were operating and hence everyone else had to get pushed down in the order. But, he also placed a counter-argument. He asked if that was the case, why was Samson not slotted in at No. 3 as he too can hit spinners.

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Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, former India cricketer Varun Aaron questioned the decision not to use Samson. "They thought they could get Dube on to take down the spinners. But Sanju Samson is another option; he could have been slotted in early today. We know how he enjoys (batting) slightly up top," he said.

India Step Away From Silverware

With the 41-run win over Bangladesh, India moved through to the final. Abhishek Sharma was the star of the show with the bat as India would now await the winner of the Pakistan versus Bangladesh game.