Asia Cup 2025: Is India wasting Sanju Samson's talent by batting him lower down the order?

Team squad selections and player batting orders have always taken their places in the backdrop of the successes and failures of Indian cricket. Decisions based on instincts, recency biases, and impromptu match situations leave players and fans bewildered and unknowingly disadvantaged. Consequently, their talent and skills remain underutilised, and this inflicts self-doubt on the players themselves. Irrespective of the disturbance caused to the team's balance and its potential effect on the outcome of the game, such calls are difficult and require players to be mentally strong, selfless, and resilient. In a sport like cricket, having a team-first approach is imperative and seems to be the only fix for players who are floated along the line-up for the sake of flexibility. 

In the ongoing Asia Cup 2025, being played in the UAE, India's batting order in their matches played so far has been anything but fixed. Except for the opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, no other batter in the playing eleven is assured of his position. This scenario demands not just flexibility but maximum individual efficiency as well, regardless of the game situation and time of going to bat. The team combination has permitted them to take the field with an astonishing eight proper batters, aiming to adopt an all-out aggressive tactic to post as high a total as possible and provide their quality bowlers sufficient runs to defend. Different ground dimensions, variable pitch conditions, opposition bowlers, and match-ups have also influenced the batting order and, at times, enforced the unit to maintain a left-right combination in the middle. 

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The Sanju Samson Conundrum

In the recent couple of years, specifically in 2024 and until early 2025, it seemed that Sanju Samson was being given a long rope as a T20I opener for India, to make that position secure for the Asia Cup 2025 and the subsequent ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in the subcontinent. The elegant Kerala batter, during that phase, did pay back the trust shown in him by producing impressive performances in a couple of bilateral series. Against Bangladesh at home, he was the highest run scorer of the series and capped off his batting prowess by scoring a scintillating ton in Hyderabad. Next, touring South Africa, he smashed a couple of tons and finished the four-match series with an impeccable average of 72. However, when England came to India for a five-match T20I rubber, he had a horrible series, scoring a paltry total of just 51 runs in five innings at a lowly average of 10.20, strike rate of 118, and getting dismissed similarly on all occasions. All these innings, whether high or low, came when opening the batting for India. 

Now, fast forward to the Asia Cup 2025, and the wicket-keeper batter has had to give up his starting position to make way for Shubman Gill as India's new T20I opener, coupling the latter with his domestic teammate and southpaw, Abhishek Sharma. Moreover, Samson has even been unable to consolidate his position in the top order and finds himself late and low. He has been pushed down to bat in the lower middle and thrust to finish the game, subject to overs remaining, with the tailenders. Proceeding in this manner, taking India's potent batting and opposition bowlers' weaknesses into consideration, he hardly gets to face balls, and when he does, they are in the unlikeliest of circumstances. Only against Oman, he was sent at number three and displayed a man-of-the-match performance by scoring 56 runs off 45 balls, smashing three 4s and three 6s. Surprisingly, against Bangladesh in the Super-Fours, Axar Patel was sent ahead of him, leaving everyone flabbergasted and amazed. 

The player who plays for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) admitted being asked to become flexible in batting by the head coach Gautam Gambhir and team management, in his recent interview. His scoring stats at different position numbers will certainly aid in comprehending the utility he brings to the team, and further help in differentiating the value of the returns while playing at his natural or unnatural positions.  

Sanju Samson's Overall T20I Stats

Sanju Samson's T20I Batting Stats (Position-Wise)

It is worth noting and taking into account that since Samson has been made to not open the innings for India, the team hasn't crossed 200 runs as a unit even once. This opposes the previous tallies, when on quite a few instances the double ton landmark was achieved. Sanju was the protagonist of those totals in the majority of the cases and led as an opener. It is clearly visible that the South Indian batter boasts his highest average and run-scoring rate while taking the strike as an opening batter, and his returns dwindle as he is pushed down the pecking order. This implies that the big-hitting player is at his explosive best when sent in first, and the longer such scenarios remain discontinued, as in the contemporary matches, the more injustice will be drawn upon the batter.

Consequently, it would seem like the Indian team management, while undermining Sanju's potential, is wasting his talent by making him bat quite lower in the ranks. The question persists, is likely to get broader and more serious, and must be dealt with sooner for both the player's and the team's cricketing health. Asia Cup 2025 won't throw much of a challenge, and the issue might get swept under the carpet, but moving ahead, particularly for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, it might emerge as a major conundrum.