India’s much-awaited Asia Cup squad, comprising 15 members, was announced on Tuesday (August 19) with Shubman Gill making a comeback to the T20I team as vice-captain. But a few deserving players who did well in IPL 2025 didn’t find a place in the squad.
Team India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup was announced on Tuesday (August 19), with the captain Suryakumar Yadav and chief selector Ajit Agarkar also attending the press conference. Overall, it is a balanced squad with a few surprises as Shubman Gill returned to the team after more than a year and has also been named the vice-captain. The bowling attack looks covered with the presence of established players like Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and the spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was one of the major misses from the squad as Gill made a comeback, even as a few other top performers from the Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this year also failed to make the cut. Over the last few years, players have been judged upon their performances in the IPL and more often than not, they get the call-up to the national side as well. But the Asia Cup squad has turned out to be the exception this time around. Let us have a look at three top performers from IPL 2025 who were not picked in India’s Asia Cup squad:
1. Prasidh Krishna
Prasidh Krishna won the purple cap for picking up the most wickets in the IPL earlier this year. The fast bowler played for the Gujarat Titans and picked up 25 wickets at a brilliant economy rate of 8.27 and an average of 19.52. His strike rate of 14.16 was also the best among the top five wicket-takers of the season and deserved to make it to the squad, ahead of the likes of Harshit Rana, who picked up 15 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 10.18.
2. Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer was extremely unlucky not to be picked in the T20I squad after all that he did in the IPL this year. He won the trophy last year with the Kolkata Knight Riders and was released by the franchise even then. He joined Punjab Kings, who hadn’t made the IPL playoffs after 2014, and led them to the final. Iyer also led from the front with the bat, smashing 604 in 17 matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07. He was the only non-opener in the top eight leading run-scorers of the season and had the best strike rate among the top 10 of them. Even then, chief selector Agarkar made it clear that Iyer will have to wait more for his chance.
3. Sai Sudharsan
The purple cap holder of IPL 2025 is at least among the standbys for the Asia Cup. But the same is not the case with the orange cap holder – Sai Sudharsan. The left-hander has been the epitome of consistency ever since he started playing the IPL. He scored 759 runs at an average of 54.21 and a strike rate of 156.17 in IPL 2025, notching up six fifties and a century. But his effort wasn’t enough to even make it to the standbys.
Also Read