Sanju Samson OUT, 4 Players IN? India’s Likely Playing XI Against Sri Lanka | Cricket News

India will face Sri Lanka in their third and final Super 4s match of the Asia Cup 2025 on Friday, September 26. The match between the two finalists of the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to take place at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. For the match against the Charith Asalanka-led side, Team India, which has already qualified for the final of the Asia Cup 2025, could make multiple changes.

The likes of Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who have warmed the bench in all five matches played so far, could get a game along with pacers Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana. Rana and Arshdeep have played one match each so far in the ongoing tournament but weren’t able to impress much with their performances against Oman on September 19.

The Indian team management could rest Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya for the Sri Lanka game, the result of which won’t have any impact on the tournament, as India have already qualified for the final.

Hardik and Kuldeep have played all five matches for India in the ongoing tournament and have picked up 12 and three wickets, respectively, whereas Bumrah has five wickets to his name in four matches.

Also, RCB stumper Jitesh Sharma could get a game in place of Sanju Samson. Samson failed to impress with his batting in the Super 4s match against Pakistan and was demoted to bat at No. 8 in the last match against Bangladesh.

Jitesh, on the other hand, was in red-hot form for RCB in IPL 2025 and excelled in the role of a finisher.

In the absence of Hardik, Bumrah and Kuldeep, Arshdeep, who is India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is, will lead the bowling attack, and Harshit Rana will share the new ball with him.

India’s likely playing XI for Super 4s match against Sri Lanka: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy