The Indian T20I skipper was very positive about the team's chances for the T20 World Cup 2026.
With the Tests and ODIs out of the way, the Men in Blue brace themselves for a five-match T20I series, which will be a good preparation for the upcoming T200 World Cup in 2026. On the road to the coveted tournament, one of the most important questions ahead of the management would be the positions of Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson in the batting order.
The fact that the team is looking at the five-match series as a means to prepare for the mega-event would be enough to analyse their plans. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav attended the press conference ahead of the five-match T20I series against the Proteas. He opened the lid on a lot of aspects of the team – the batting positions of players, and their approach towards the tournament.
Suryakumar Yadav stated that the preparation for the T20 World Cup 2026 started way back in 2024 itself, expressing the seriousness of the tournament in the minds of the team and the management. Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya being fit and raring to go will add a lot of confidence and balance to the side. However, the skipper said that the team boasts of a flexible batting order.
That being said, when asked about the batting position of Sanju Samson, the Indian skipper wasted no time to state that the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter is very flexible in terms of the batting position, and can bat anywhere in the order. Suryakumar also hinted that the team would not be looking to make a lot of changes from the side that they have been playing recently.
“He is a flexible player, can bat anywhere. We don’t plan to change a lot in our playing XI in the next 2 series. We won’t be changing or trying too many things. We will continue with it”, said Suryakumar Yadav in the press conference.
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From whatever is being said about the Indian batting order by skipper Suryakumar Yadav, it is no secret that the Men in Blue are not wanting to change a lot about their batting order. Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma would continue to open the batting, with the batters from three to seven acting as floaters, according to the situation of the game.
One of the advantages that Samson brings to the table would be his ability to hit the ball on the rise, which would be extremely useful for the Blues especially on wickets like the Wankhede stadium – where the ball comes on to the bat nicely. However, with Shubman Gill opening the batting and being a certainty in the playing XI as the vice-captain, the team would have to ace their batting order in terms of the changes as per situation.
It is quite evident that the wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala would be playing out of his place once he is pushed down the order. Most of his runs in T20I cricket have come while he has opened the innings. To add to that, Sanju Samson possesses a strike-rate of 182.20 at the top of the order, along with having scored 512 runs from 14 innings including three hundreds and a fifty.
On the other hand, Shubman Gill has not featured in international T20Is anywhere else than the opening spot. This would propel the Indians to stay with the combination that has worked for them at the top of the order. However, they would hope that the batting combination in the middle-order clicks in each of the five games against South Africa.
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