That's a well thought out analysis! 👏
Being a entertainer, Sana has already established a game for herself, she just refuses to believe that it can help her win. Not having faith in her own self and taking the validation route by trusting the feedback (especially the sidnaaz ones) are the reason for her downfall I believe.
She developed this desperation to keep sidnaaz alive without realizing that it was always supposed to work in Shukla's favour. Now people call her psychotic and a doormat, which based on her actions, is not entirely untrue.
This process of gaining salman's approval and shaping one's game accordingly is not really working for shehnaaz. Even if she managed to change her image by treating himanshi right, the latter still came across as much more mature and sophisticated in the end.
You could be right about her emulating asim's game to boost her own but yes, that is not going to work in the long run. Asim has always stayed true to his ethics and ideas. Salman may have bashed him multiple times but Asim does not make it a reason to completely modify his behaviour. He understands now how the skewed narrative of the show is working.
I agree to the point that shenaaz should play for herself. She needs to have faith in her game and move ahead with that. So many contestants have talked about how caring shehnaaz is and how she entertains and uplifts someone when they are feeling low. So not exactly a bad person, but just ill-advised and disillusioned about the show and her role in it.
She is winning hearts everywhere! Even if she doesn't win the show, consistency and being herself will definitely help her in the future.