Suryakumar Yadav-led India are going through the hard grind at the ICC Academy in Dubai. The reigning champions have started to prepare for the continental tournament and they look like one of the favourites to win it.
India will defend their title of being the Asian Champions against sides such as Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. India open their campaign on September 10, 2025.
Jitesh Sharma Goes Through Wicketkeeping Drills In Dubai: Reports
Despite being a strong and settled unit in T20Is, a few questionable squad additions have raised a lot of questions around India’s starting XI for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) games. Despite having a strong squad at his disposal, India head coach Gautam Gambhir has a good headache of selecting a team that is evenly balanced and ticks all the boxes.
So far India had a settled top four in the T20Is. Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma made for a very solid top order, but Shubman Gill’s inclusion in the T20I side and his appointment as the vice-captain makes him a sure-starter and this in many ways upsets the already settled T20I unit. The biggest report as of now has been Jitesh Sharma vs Sanju Samson and who gets to keep wickets for India.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, no fielding drills were lined up for Sanju Samson and he mostly waited on the sidelines after his warm-up drills. His wicketkeeping rival, Jitesh Sharma, on the other hand, was given a lengthy wicketkeeping practice session and he toiled hard behind the stumps. The report also states that for the first couple of hours Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh practiced in the nets.
Dissecting Sharma’s Performances In The T20I Format
Prior to the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup, Jitesh Sharma was considered as one of the options to keep wickets for India, but courtesy of his lacklustre performances, Jitesh lost his place in the squad. The 31-year-old has played 9 T20I matches for India, has scored 100 runs at an average of 14.29.