The BCCI announced a 15-man squad for the Asia Cup, while dropping a few surprises. Shubman Gill, the Test captain, was named the vice-captain of the T20 side, while Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal were not picked despite scoring 604 and 559 runs respectively.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the 15-member squad for the men’s Asia Cup, set to take place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi from September 9-28. Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side, while Shubman Gill, who was the Mumbaikar’s deputy during the Sri Lanka series last time around, has returned to the side as the vice-captain. There were a couple of notable absentees in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer, but it seemed like Gill is very much part of the all-format leadership plan going forward and hence, both had to miss out.
Jasprit Bumrah returned to the T20I side after more than a year, as the rest of the squad bore familiarity and India will hope that they can defend the Asia Cup (having won the 2023 edition) next month.
Here’s a look at all the changes in India’s T20 squad since the England series:
IN: Gill and Bumrah were the obvious big names to return for India, who haven’t played a T20I for India for more than a year. Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma returned for the first time since the South Africa series last year, on the back of a sensational season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL. Jitesh replaced Dhruv Jurel as the backup wicketkeeper in the squad. Shivam Dube also returned to the side, replacing injured Nitish Kumar Reddy, while Kuldeep Yadav, who was recovering from an injury, made a comeback too.
OUT: Mohammed Shami was the big name missing, and it seems he has dropped out of contention across all formats. Reddy missed out to Shivam Dube, while Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar both missed out to Kuldeep, who was always going to return to the side when fully fit. Jurel was the fifth and final omission from the squad that played against England, even though the wicketkeeper-batter has found a place in the standbys.
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Standbys: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal