Asia Cup 2025: Is Sanju Samson playing in India vs UAE Match 2?

There were a lot of talks surrounding Sanju Samson's involvement in India's Playing XI of Match 2 of Asia Cup 2025 against the UAE. Contrary to a lot of expectations, Samson has been picked in the squad ahead of Jitesh Sharma as their wicketkeeper.

It was previously speculated that Samson might not find a spot for himself in the XI due to a jam-packed top-order. However, he has been slotted in at No. 5, as per the preliminary line-up. The star wicketkeeper-batter is coming off red-hot form in the Kerala Cricket League 2025, amassing 368 runs in five innings at a blistering strike rate of 186.80. 

Toss Update

Suryakumar won the toss and elected to field first. Responding to anchor Sanjay Manjrekar's query on whether the Men in Blue would have bowled first, Suryakumar expressed that they will bat first if provided with the opportunity later in the tournament. UAE's skipper mentioned that they were also looking to field first. India picked Jasprit Bumrah as the only specialist pacer, while Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube also provide medium pace options.

What did the captains say?

Suryakumar Yadav (India captain)

We'll bowl first. Looks a nice fresh wicket. Humid also today, might be dew later. If we get an opportunity, we're flexible to do anything but today we want to bowl. We came here early, had 3-4 good practice sessions and also a day off.

Muhammad Waseem (UAE captain)

We were also looking to bowl. Pitch is fresh and maybe the ball will do something early. We had a good series, took many positive points and we're confident from that series. We're going with a good combination with spinners and fast bowlers, and juniors and seniors.

IND vs UAE, Match 2 Playing 11s

India

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy

UAE

Muhammad Waseem (c), Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Asif Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh