The Indian team management will prefer Jitesh Sharma over Sanju Samson for the Asia Cup 2025 campaign opener against the UAE on September 10 in Dubai. The practice session of the Men in Blue indicated that Samson might be benched for the fixture, with Jitesh joining the Playing XI.

With the return of Shubman Gill in the T20I team, there has been a question mark on Samson’s place as the 25-year-old is sure of opening the batting with Abhishek Sharma. It leaves Samson competing with Jitesh for a place in the middle-order.

Jitesh underwent extended batting practice under the supervision of head coach Gautam Gambhir. According to ESPNCricinfo, Samson was initially involved in the throw-downs before batting in the nets.

Despite Samson’s sensational batting in the Kerala Cricket League, Jitesh is India’s first-choice wicket-keeper batter. The 31-year-old played as a finisher for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their title win in the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025).

In 11 innings, he accumulated 261 runs at an average of 37.28 and a strike rate of 176.35. His best knock came against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), which helped RCB in finishing among the top two teams. He amassed an unbeaten 85 runs off 33 balls that helped RCB complete the chase of 228 runs in 18.4 overs.

His last match for India was against Afghanistan in 2024, and the batter has scored 100 runs from seven T20Is so far. On the other hand, Samson posted 368 runs from five innings at an average of 73.60 and a strike rate of 186.80 in the Kerala Cricket League. The 30-year-old scored three T20I hundreds last year and has managed 417 runs at an average of 37.90 since being promoted as an opener.