Nothing made more sense than the quiet surrounding Sanju Samson. He spent the majority of the evening sitting on a red icebox, watching Shubman Gill, Jitesh Sharma, and Rinku Singh bat in the three center-wicket nets after his warm-up runs and a token hit in the outfield.
Finding their bearings was the focus of India’s first practice session at the ICC Academy in Dubai; intent was the focus of the second. The drills had a sharper edge, there was a clearer hierarchy for who batted where, and there were also some subliminal clues about how the team management is starting to envision its starting lineup.
It was difficult to overlook the irony. During those months of breakthrough runs and hundreds in late 2024 and early 2025, Samson filled in for Gill, India’s returning vice-captain, while he waited for his turn. Of Samson waited as Rinku, the other designated finisher, and Jitesh, the team’s other wicketkeeper, perspired.
The nets were owned by just six people for the first few hours: Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Jitesh, and Rinku.
Abhishek and Gill, who have been colleagues since their U-12 days, moved nearly together. Abhishek even started the evening by examining and jokingly swinging Gill’s bat, which had already helped him reach significant milestones like his first international century in Zimbabwe. Later, under fielding instructor T. Dilip, the two fit right in during catching drills. To face the new ball from Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah, Gill and Abhishek proceeded to the farthest of the three nets. Hardik Pandya and, most notably, Shivam Dube, who rushed in hard, soon joined the bowling group.
Rinku was the first player in the adjacent net, taking on the spin combo of Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Kuldeep Yadav. Following closely behind, Tilak and Suryakumar both recorded long stretches of time against spin, including a skiddy, round-arm legspinner. Rinku had started a session hours earlier, but Tilak was the last to finish, so ending it.
Varun Chakaravarthy, meanwhile, bowled one of the longest stints of the evening before working with Dilip on his high catching. Crouching and moving in just after the ball has left the bat seemed to be the coach’s clear instructions. Dilip was everywhere, but his prolonged presence with Rinku and Kuldeep was particularly noticeable.
However, Samson continued to play a supporting role.
He had a limited window for batting and no fielding drills scheduled for him. He shared a net with Hardik and then moved stealthily to the spin nets after getting hit out alongside all-rounders Dube, Axar, and Hardik.
Gautam Gambhir was engaged in conversation with Suryakumar when Samson was in the middle, and Gill joined them later. The topic of conversation could have been anything, but it was unlikely to be Samson given the course of the evening. Although XIs are not named during practice sessions, hints are whispered, and for Samson, the decision appeared to be made before his turn.
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