“Aise sawaal nahi puchne chahiye” - Sanju Samson on losing his opening spot to Shubman Gill since the Asia Cup

Indian keeper-batter Sanju Samson was caught off-guard by the former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan when the latter asked him whether he would open for Team India in the forthcoming series against New Zealand.

Notably, Samson has been included in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad as the first-choice keeper-batter with Shubman Gill finding the axe alongside Jitesh Sharma. Interestingly, the selectors have gone ahead with Ishan Kishan as the backup keeper.

"Bhaiya, aap karado open, main kya bolu yaar. Aise sawaal nahi puchne chahiye, Irfan bhai. (Please you make me open, what should I say? You shouldn't ask these questions. (laughs)," said Samson when Irfan asked whether he would open in the NZ series.

In the same conversation with Irfan Pathan and Varun Aaron after the five-match T20I series against South Africa, Samson revealed that he has been having proper communication with Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav.

“The team environment is really important because a big tournament is coming up. I have been in the system long enough to know what they were trying to do. I know what the leadership group were trying to do as I am quite experienced," Samson said on JioStar.

“I have a good relationship with both Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav, so communication is quite open with them,” he added.

While Samson scored three centuries last year, he had a poor series against England earlier this year, which resulted in him losing the opening spot to Shubman Gill since the start of the Asia Cup 2025 campaign.

However, Gill failed to live up to expectations as he could score only 291 runs from 15 T20Is in 2025 at an average of 24.25 and a strike rate of 137.26, with the highest score of 47. Eventually, he lost his place in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad.

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