Sanju Samson has finally been offered his rightful place at the top of the Indian batting order. The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman defeated Shubman Gill in the race for the inaugural spot at the ICC T20 World Cup and celebrated with an Instagram post.
The Indian men’s selection committee has announced the final 15-man squad for the ICC T20 World Cup and Sanju Samson has also been included in the squad along with other members of the team.
Indian team for T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel (VC), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ishan Kishan (wk), and Rinku Singh.
Sanju Samson’s mysterious Instagram post after T20 World Cup selection
Sanju Samson was one of India’s starlets in the shortest format of the game; In the final year of 2024, he also became the first batsman to score three centuries in the T20I format in a calendar year.
However, despite his impeccable form, Sanju Samson lost his starting spot to Shubman Gill, who made a comeback in the format under Gautam Gambhir. Gill was also named the vice-captain of the team, and hence, could not be replaced, and Samson eventually lost his place in the playing eleven, as he failed to adapt to the middle order.
However, now that Shubman Gill has been dropped from the T20I squad for the World Cup and Sanju Samson has been selected, it seems he has regained his place at the top of the Indian batting order. The batsman has celebrated his happy moment through an Instagram post.
The post mentions a caption that states, “The colors won’t fade, for sure!!” Which gives a glimpse of his determination to make his mark for the Men in Blue.
Instagram post Sanju Samson
– WK for T20I World Cup 2026. pic.twitter.com/9PcCOPDDaz
– Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) 20 December 2025
Shubman Gill was dropped due to a combination – Ajit Agarkar explained
Indian vice-captain Shubman Gill has not been left out of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup due to his poor form or his unavailability due to injuries. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has revealed that Shubman Gill has been dropped simply because he does not fit into the combination for India.
Gill has lacked form since his return to the Indian T20I setup; His performance with the bat has been poor and he has failed to make a mark in the 15 matches he has played for India. He could be one of the backup reserves for India, but India did not name any of its reserve players.
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav suggested that since India is hosting the tournament, all the players will be ready and can be called at any time if needed.
Ishan Kishan given backup wicketkeeper position for ICC T20 World Cup
Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant, who was part of India’s ICC T20 World Cup-winning team in the USA and Caribbean in 2024, has been consistently ignored by coach Gautam Gambhir. Now Jitesh Sharma has also failed to make a place in the World Cup team.
Instead, Jharkhand wicketkeeper batsman Ishan Kishan has been included in the squad as the backup gloveman to Sanju Samson. Kishan was the leading run-scorer in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and also led his team Jharkhand to the SMAT title.
The batsman has been offered the right spot, reflecting his dominance and form in recent times, unlike Jitesh Sharma, who has lacked consistency, and Rishabh Pant, who has been absent from limited-overs action for a long time.
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