Shubman Gill to replace Sanju Samson? Team India's practice session gives a glimpse of possible combination in Asia Cup

Team India is gearing up for the Asia Cup at the ICC Academy in Dubai. The first practice session gave hints about the combinations and the possible playing 11.

There was a sharp focus on who participated in the drills, the batting order and even the bowlers who could be start, as per a Cricbuzz report.

One striking observation, according to the report was the passive participation by Sanju Samson. After warming-up with sprints and a token hit in the outfield, he was seen on a red icebox for most of the evening even as he watched Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh batt in the three centre-wicket nets.


Samson, who was a regular in the last few series, has scored three centuries, but is likely to be replaced by vice-captain Gill at the top of the order.

Six batters had a hit in the first two hours, accroding to Cricbuzz. They included Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Jitesh and Rinku.

Gill and Abhishek were seen batting as a pair and later carried out catching drills under fielding coach T Dilip. Then, they faced the new ball from Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah. The bowling group was soon joined by Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.

In another net, Rinku was first in, facing the spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel. Tilak and Suryakumar followed with extended sessions against the spinners.

Among bowlers, Varun Chakaravarthy bowled tirelessly and then worked with Dilip on his high catching. The fielding coach also worked with Rinku and Kuldeep.

There were no fielding drills for Samson and his batting stint was short. He batted while all-rounders Hardik, Dube and Axar, shared a net.

Elsewhere, head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen in deep talks with captain Suryakumar. They were later joined by Gill.