Sanju Samson included in playing XI vs UAE as Suryakumar Yadav finally breaks India’s toss curse

The Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson has retained his place in the playing XI of the India National Cricket Team for the Asia Cup 2025 match against the UAE National Cricket Team.

Under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, Team India are taking on Team UAE in the second match of the Asia Cup 2025 at the Dubai International Stadium.

Sanju Samson picked as Suryakumar Yadav ends India’s horrific toss-losing streak

India won the toss and opted to bowl first in the match against the UAE. At the toss, Suryakumar Yadav looked in a jovial mood and told Mohammad Waseem, "Don't look," as he was preparing to flip the coin in the air.

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Luck finally favored the Men In Blue, as India won the toss for the first time in 16 attempts in international cricket. Notably, India were going through the longest toss losing streak in international cricket with 15 consecutive losses from January to July 2025 across all formats. This run involved multiple captains, including Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav.

Meanwhile, India made some surprising calls in the playing XI as the left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was benched. Another major selection call was the inclusion of Sanju Samson in the team.

Samson has been India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman and opener in T20I cricket for a long time, but his place in the team is under threat after the return of Shubman Gill to the team as vice-captain, which guaranteed him a place in the XI.

Also, India included the wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma in the squad, which many felt was a hint that he would bat in the middle-order. However, Gautam Gambhir-led team management showed faith in Samson and picked him in the XI, but there is no clarity on his batting position as of yet.

We are flexible enough to do anything - Suryakumar Yadav

Speaking to Sanjay Manjrekar, Suryakumar Yadav said that they were bowling first because of the dew factor in the second innings.

However, he also made it pretty clear that they are flexible enough to both bat and bowl first, thanks to the presence of a strong line-up. He elaborated:

"We are looking to bowl first. There is some green grass in the surface and also the weather is a bit humid. We are flexible enough to do anything. It's just that it's the first game out here after 3-4 months, so we wanted to bowl first.

"We came here pretty early. We had 3-4 good practice sessions, had a good day off also. Everyone looks prepared. Touchwood everything looks fine."

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India and UAE Playing XIs for Asia Cup match:

United Arab Emirates (Playing XI): Muhammad Waseem(c), Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra(w), Asif Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Haider Ali, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Junaid Siddique, Simranjeet Singh

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