Former India batter Wasim Jaffer questioned the team management over Sanju Samson's batting order in the Asia Cup 2025 clash against Oman in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Samson was promoted up the order at no. 3, despite not featuring in the top order against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan, respectively. However, Jaffer suggested that there is no point of playing Samson at the top of the order, since he might not bat at the same position in the coming matches.
"I think he (Sanju Samson) should be batting at number five. I feel he needs to get used to that number. He hasn't batted there at all, whether for Rajasthan Royals or with the Indian team. He needs some game time there, coming later in the innings and then accelerating from the start. He's a quality player. If he bats at that number, I'm sure he'll get used to it because he's a clean striker of the ball. But it's something he's not used to. So I believe, even though you might tempt him to get some game time, I don't think he's going to achieve anything by batting at number three," said Jaffer.
During the same discussion, former India opener Abhinav Mukund noted that it has been challenging for Samson, who gets pushed up and down frequently by the team management
"This has almost been a problem with Sanju Samson in the position that he plays because he couldn't find a spot and hence was pushed to open, because three, four, five, six were all filled up with other middle-order batters. So he was pushed up. He got his hundreds and he had a poor England series. Now he's pushed back down. So it's a very difficult thing as a batter to adapt," he added.
Meanwhile, Samson struck a half century and opener Abhishek Sharma provided the early momentum as India scored 188 for 8 against Oman.
Abhishek (38 off 15 balls) gave India a promising start after they lost opener Shubman Gill (5 runs) early, while keeper-batter Samson played a consolidating innings of 56 runs (45 balls), studded with three boundaries and as many sixes, even as wickets kept falling at regular intervals.
The pair was involved in a 66-run stand for the second wicket.
Oman's veteran left-arm spinner Aamir Kaleem (2/31), left-arm quick Shah Faisal (2/23) and Jiten Ramanandi (2/33) took two wickets each.
(With PTI Inputs)