Kerala’s wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Samson played a brilliant century against Jharkhand. This was Sanju’s first match in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 edition, in which he completed his century in 90 balls. With this innings, Sanju has presented a strong claim for the ODI series against New Zealand. Let us tell you that till the time of writing the news, BCCI has not announced the team for the ODI series.

India vs New Zealand, 3 match ODI series will start from January 11. BCCI is going to announce the team soon, the names of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul are coming out as 2 wicketkeepers. However, in the ongoing edition of Vijay Hazare Trophy, Sanju Samson has also staked his claim by scoring a century in his very first match.

Kumar Kushagra played explosive innings

In this match of the fifth round played in Ahmedabad, Jharkhand captain Ishan Kishan had decided to bat first. Kumar Kushagra scored the most runs for Jharkhand, he played an unbeaten inning of 143 runs. In this century innings played in 137 balls, Kushagra hit 7 sixes and 8 fours. Anukul Roy scored 72 runs. Batting first, Jharkhand had set a target of 312 runs for Kerala.

Sanju Samson made a partnership of 212 runs with the captain.

While chasing the target, Sanju Samson and Rohan Kunnummal gave a great start to Kerala, both of them made a partnership of 212 runs for the first wicket. Rohan scored 124 runs in 78 balls, in this innings he hit 11 sixes and 8 fours.

Sanju Samson completed his century in 90 balls, he scored 101 runs in 95 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 9 fours.

sanju samson career

Wicketkeeper batsman Sanju Samson has played 16 ODI matches for India, in which he scored 510 runs at a strike rate of 99.60. He has scored 1 century and 3 half-centuries in ODIs. Sanju played his last international ODI match in December 2023.

Apart from this, Sanju Samson scored 1032 runs in 52 T20 matches, in this shorter format he scored 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries.

Indian cricketers also celebrated Christmas on 25 December. On the festival of Christmas, people go home to celebrate the holidays, but some Indian cricketers celebrated it by staying at home and some away from home due to the cricket schedule. But the players have shared their happiness through social media. From Virat Kohli to Sanju Samson and female cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues have also shared happiness with the fans by sharing posts.

How did cricketers celebrate Christmas?

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, who played an inning of 131 runs for Delhi in the very first match of Vijay Hazare Trophy. He sent best wishes to people for Christmas as well as New Year through Instagram. He sent a happy message to his fans.

Virat Kohli wishing everyone ‘Merry Christmas’ pic.twitter.com/XE0bX35FHI

— Indian Cricket Team (@TeamIndia_in) December 25, 2025

sanju samson

Sanju Samson shared the picture on social media, in which he is wearing a red cap and has a gift box in his hand. He has shared happiness with his fans by sharing his laughing picture.

Sanju Samson Instagram Story For the Happy Christmas pic.twitter.com/KWdTRmJTlg

— Sahil Singhadiya (@SahilSinghadiya) December 24, 2025

Women cricketers celebrated together

Jemimah Rodrigues posed for a photo while having fun with Smriti Mandhana and Arundhati Reddy. In the comment section of this picture, fans showered a lot of love on her and also wished her a Merry Christmas. Rodriguez wrote in the caption that he felt at home despite being away from home.

Yuvraj Singh

Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh shared a picture with his wife Hazel Keech and children.

Yuvraj Singh celebrating Christmas Day with his family.#yuvrajsingh #MerryChristmas #Christmas pic.twitter.com/kr1RiqQFu6

— Cricket Sangrah (@CricketSangrah) December 25, 2025

Shubman Gill vs Sanju Samson: The debate has intensified regarding the recent selection of the Indian T20 team. Especially the discussion is going on among fans and experts regarding Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson. On one hand, Shubman Gill has been dropped from the T20 team, while on the other hand, Sanju Samson has also not been able to cement his place in the playing eleven consistently. The interesting thing is that if we look at the figures for the year 2025, there is not much difference in the performance of the two players.

Shubman Gill’s performance in T20I 2025

Talking about Shubman Gill, he played 15 T20 International matches for India in 2025. In all these matches he took the responsibility of opening. He scored a total of 291 runs at an average of 24.25. During this period, Gill’s strike rate was 137. However, the kind of big innings that were expected from him were not seen. He could not score even a single half-century throughout the year. His biggest inning was 47 runs, which he played against Pakistan in Dubai. During this period, 38 fours and 4 sixes came from his bat, but the lack of consistency was clearly visible.

Sanju Samson’s performance in T20I 2025

On the other hand, Sanju Samson also played 15 T20 International matches in 2025, but he got a chance to bat in only 11 innings. In these innings, Sanju scored a total of 222 runs at an average of 20.18 and strike rate of 126.85. He definitely scored a half-century against Oman in the Asia Cup, but apart from this he also failed to play a big innings. The T20 series against England at the beginning of the year was very bad for Sanju, where he scored only 1, 3, 5, 16 and 26 runs in five matches.

Sanju’s performance in 2024

However, the year 2024 was a great year for Sanju Samson. That year he scored about 436 runs in 12 innings. During this period his average was 44 and strike rate was 180. He had three centuries and one half-century in his name and he became the highest T20 run scorer for India in 2024. Despite this, he did not get a chance to play even a single match in the T20 World Cup, which is still under question.

Chennai Super Kings spent Rs 41 crore to buy 9 players in IPL 2026. The franchise spent more than Rs 28 crore on 2 uncapped players. The salary of both will be more than 3 times that of MS Dhoni. The team’s squad of 25 players has been completed, Rs 2 crore 40 lakh is also left in the purse.

Chennai Super Kings had included Sanju Samson in their squad through trade before the IPL 2026 auction. Sanju’s salary is Rs 18 crore. Including Samson, CSK had retained a total of 16 players, out of which 4 were foreigners. The slots of 9 players of the team were vacant, which have now been filled.

CSK’s most expensive player in IPL 2026 auction

Karthik Sharma and Prashant Veer were the most expensive players bought by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2026 auction. Both are uncapped players, whose base price was only Rs 30 lakh. But other teams also showed interest in him, due to which his price kept increasing. Chennai bought Karthik for Rs 14.2 crore and Prashant for Rs 14.2 crore, which means the franchise spent a total of Rs 28.4 crore on these two players.

Chennai Super Kings Squad 2026 (With Price)

1. Anshul Kamboj (Retained) – 3.4 crores
2. Gurjapneet Singh (Retained) – 2.2 crores
3. Jamie Overton (Retained) – Rs 1.5 crore
4. MS Dhoni (Retained) – 4 crores
5. Mukesh Chaudhary (Retained) – 30 lakhs
6. Nathan Ellis (Retained) – Rs 2 crore
7. Noor Ahmed (Retained) – Rs 10 crore
8. Ramakrishna Ghosh (retained) – 30 lakhs
9. Sanju Samson (Trade) – 18 crores
10. Ruturaj Gaikwad (Retained) – 18 crores
11. Shivam Dubey (Retained) – 12 crores
12. Ayush Mhatre (Ret.) – 30 lakhs
13. Dewald Brevis (retained) – 2.2 crores
14. Urvil Patel (Retained) – 30 lakhs
15. Khaleel Ahmed (Retained) – 4.8 crores
16. Shreyas Gopal (Retained) – 30 lakhs
17. Akeal Hosein (Sold) – 2 Crore
18. Prashant Veer (Sold) – 14.2 crores
19. Karthik Sharma (Sold) – 14.2 crores
20. Matthew Short (Sold) – Rs 1.5 crore
21. Aman Khan (Sold) – 40 lakhs
22. Sarfaraz Khan (Sold) – 75 lakhs
23. Matt Henry (Sold) – Rs 2 crore
24. Rahul Chahar (Sold) – Rs 5.2 crore
25. Zachary Foulkes (Sold) – 75 lakhs

Bought these players including Sarfaraz at base price

Chennai Super Kings bought Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Henry, Akeal Hosein, Matthew Short and Zakari Foulkes at their base price in the IPL 2026 auction.

Shubman Gill’s place in the T20 team is under question. Gill could not even open his account in the second T20 match against South Africa. Gill has not been able to score a single half-century in T20 matches this year. Gill is surrounded by criticism and the demand to bring Sanju Samson back into the team is increasing. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath has also talked about bringing Sanju Samson back into the team.

Shubman Gill is the vice-captain of the T20 team and ever since his return to the T20 team, there has been no clarity regarding Sanju Samson’s place in the playing eleven. Samson was earlier asked to bat in the middle order, but now the situation is that he has no place in the playing eleven.

This is unfortunate…

Subramaniam Badrinath says, “Sanju Samson has scored three centuries. We are talking about T20 cricket and he has 3 centuries to his name. What more do you want from a player? It is unfortunate to see that a good player is sitting on the bench.”

Subramaniam Badrinath further said, “He is the vice-captain of the team. I feel that only that player’s place in the playing eleven can be confirmed, who is the captain or vice-captain. He has been made the vice-captain after such statistics. If there are no back-up players, then it is understandable, but there is no dearth of talent in T20.”

On the other hand, veteran Indian cricketer Chris Srikkanth has raised questions on Akshar Patel. Srikanth said that why was Akshar Patel, a middle order batsman, sent to number 3, who could not adapt himself to the circumstances. As a result, India lost the second T20 match by 51 runs.

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Sanju Samson has Better T20Is Record Than Shubman Gill: In T20 International, ever since Shubman has been made the vice-captain, the opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma has broken up. Now Shubman comes to open with Abhishek. At the same time, Sanju Samson is not even getting a place in the playing eleven. The first match of the 5-match T20 series against South Africa was played in Cuttack, in which Sanju was also out of the playing eleven. The second match of the series will be played today i.e. on December 11, 2025 in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh. Samson is finding it difficult to get a place in this match also. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill is under question regarding his declining form in T20 format.

Shubman had scored a half-century 16 innings ago

The pressure on Shubman Gill to perform better as an opening batsman in T20 International is continuously increasing, which is visible in his game. Gill has been forcefully adjusted in this format, while because of him, Sanju Samson has been continuously dropped from the playing eleven and explosive batsman like Yashasvi Jaiswal is being kept out of the team. If we look at the record, it becomes clear that Gill has not scored a single half-century in the last 16 T20 innings. During this period, there have been eight innings in which he has been out on a score of 15 or less. On the other hand, Sanju Samson has scored three centuries in his last 12 innings as an opening batsman.

Former player and commentator Akash Chopra raised questions

Former Indian Test player and well-known commentator Aakash Chopra has also raised questions on Shubman Gill’s place in T20 International and has also raised questions on Gill’s recent form in this shorter format. Akash has posted a video on his social media account, in which he is seen saying that Shubman is continuously failing due to trying too hard.

There are less than 2 months left for the start of T20 World Cup 2026, but the problem of the batting line-up of the Indian team has not been solved. On one hand, due to the exclusion of Rinku Singh, the role of finisher within the team has become a matter of concern. In the first T20 match against South Africa in Cuttack, Jitesh Sharma was given the responsibility of wicketkeeper, while Sanju Samson, who was playing the role of wicketkeeper in the T20 team for 2 years, had to sit out.

This fact is not hidden from anyone that after the arrival of Gautam Gambhir, there has been a glut of all-rounder players in the middle order. In such a situation, only one slot remains vacant, on which a wicketkeeper or a finisher can be brought. It is very important to have a wicketkeeper in the team, but when Samson was ignored in Cuttack and Jitesh Sharma was played, many people were shocked. Jitesh Sharma himself has given a statement on this subject.

Samson like my big brother

Jitesh Sharma said in the post-match conference after the first T20 match, “To be honest, he is like an elder brother to me. Having more competition brings out your talent. It is also good for the team. There is a lot of talent in the team, you can also feel it.”

Jitesh Sharma further said, “Sanju bhaiya is a great player. I will have to compete with him, if that happens, I will have to give my best. We both are trying to play for Team India. We are like brothers. We have played a lot of cricket together and help me a lot. If I have to compete with him, play shoulder to shoulder, then I will have to show my A game.”

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India vs 2nd T20 match will be played tomorrow in Mullanpur. The first T20 match was played in Cuttack, which Team India won by 101 runs. Sanju Samson was a much talked about topic of that match, even though he was not a part of the playing eleven. Jitesh Sharma played his first T20 match as a wicketkeeper.

Samson was opening first, also played many century innings but after the return of Shubman Gill, he was batting in the middle order. The team management was heavily criticized on social media after Samson was dropped from the first T20 match. Amidst all this, former cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has given a big statement on bringing Samson into the team.

Play Sanju Samson at number-3

On his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin said about Sanju Samson, “Before the match, there was a lot of discussion about why Sanju was not playing. But as soon as Shubman Gill came back to the team as vice-captain, it was going to be difficult for Sanju to make a place in the team. If you want to play Sanju Samson, then play him at number 3. Especially against spin.”

This statement of Ravichandran Ashwin can become a big issue of debate. He says that Samson should play at number 3, but the third batting order revolves around Tilak Verma and captain Suryakumar Yadav. Sometimes Tilak and sometimes Surya have been seen batting at number-3. Both are the backbone of Indian batting in the T20 team. If Sanju comes at number-3, then either Tilak or Suryakumar Yadav will have to be dropped.

Ashwin also praised Hardik Pandya, who has made a comeback after recovering from injury. Apart from playing a stormy innings of 59 runs in the first match, Pandya also took one wicket in bowling. Ashwin said that after seeing Hardik playing, it did not seem as if he was returning from injury.

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India vs South Africa 1st T20 will be played in Cuttack on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, captain Suryakumar Yadav came to the press conference, where he praised Sanju Samson and said that he can bat well in any order. However, he described Shubman Gill as deserving for the opening position.

Regarding Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav said, “Yes, when he came, he batted higher. I think everyone should be very flexible except the openers. He (Sanju) did very well when he came to bat higher. But Shubman Gill had played before him. Also in the Sri Lanka series. So he deserves that position (opener).”

Suryakumar Yadav further said, “We also gave opportunities to Sanju Samson. He was ready to play in every position. It is good that a player is flexible to play in every position. So I have told everyone except the openers that you have to be very flexible. So we have both of them in our team, one can open and the other can play in the lower order. Both are capable of playing anywhere.

Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill fit

Suryakumar Yadav said that Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill look completely fit. Pandya was injured in the Asia Cup, since then he has not played while Gill was injured in the first Test against South Africa. Surya said, “Both Gill and Pandya are looking healthy and fit.”

Surya said, “You also saw in the Asia Cup, when Hardik was bowling with the new ball, he opened up many options and combinations for us in the playing eleven. That’s what he brings to the team. His experience, the way he has performed well in all the big matches, all the ICC, ACC tournaments. I think that experience will be very useful and his presence will definitely give a good balance to the team.”

India’s probable playing 11

Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Sanju Samson (wicket keeper), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakraborty.

IND vs SA T20 Series: Team India has reached Bhubaneswar for the T20 series between India and South Africa. The first match will be played on Tuesday at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack and before that the team’s preparations are at full speed. The biggest relief news has come regarding Shubman Gill, whom BCCI has declared fit and given green card. Gill, who was out of the Test and ODI series due to a neck injury, is now ready to return to the nets.

Gill will return to the nets today

Shubhman Gill has reached Bhubaneswar on Monday and is going to practice in the nets. Indian coach Gautam Gambhir had made it clear on Saturday itself that Gill is completely fit and ready to play in the team. After the Visakhapatnam ODI, Gambhir had said, “Gill is now ready to open, that is why he has been included in the team. He is now fit and excited to take the field.”

Gill spent a few days at BCCI’s Center of Excellence, Bengaluru, to work on his fitness. Here the medical team gave him complete practice and after the batting and fielding sessions, he was declared fit. Gill retired hurt after suffering a neck problem during the Kolkata Test, but now his return is a big plus for the team.

Threat to Sanju Samson’s place?

With the return of Gill, the biggest question has arisen, will Sanju Samson sit out now? If the team management fields Gill in the opening, then he will pair with Abhishek Sharma. In such a situation, the structure of the team’s batting order may change and Sanju Samson may have to sit on the bench.

Sanju was also dropped from the playing eleven in the Australia tour, where Jitesh Sharma played as the wicketkeeper and also played the role of finisher. On the other hand, Sanju Samson has played many important innings in the opening for India, but Gill’s fitness and team strategy can again put pressure on his place.