India will begin their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against the hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), in the Group A clash on Wednesday, September 10. While most of India’s squad was on the expected lines, there were a couple of surprises and hence, a few changes from the last time India played T20Is.
India will kick off their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against the hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Wednesday, September 10. The Men in Blue have been training hard in Dubai for the last five days and will be keen to begin their campaign on a good note against the UAE, who have had match time recently, having played the tri-series last week. For India, the spotlight will be on Sanju Samson and whether he gets a go since Test captain Shubman Gill has returned to the T20 fold for the first time since the Sri Lanka series last year.
Gill also has the vice-captain tag and hence, unless injury, the 26-year-old will play all the games. Gill, however, wasn’t the only big change in India’s T20 squad, which has been mostly stable since the Bangladesh series last year. Here’s a look at all the changes in India’s T20 squad from the England series in January-February earlier this year:
IN:ย Gill and Bumrah were the obvious notable inclusions in India’s T20 squad since they played the format last time around, earlier this year. Neither has played T20Is for more than a year.ย 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 in the middle overs. Jitesh replaced Dhruv Jurel as the backup wicketkeeper in the squad, while the latter finds himself in among the non-travelling reserves.
Pace-bowling all-rounder Shivam Dube also returned to the side, replacing injured Nitish Kumar Reddy, while the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who was recovering from an injury, made a comeback too as the third spin option in the squad.
OUT:ย Mohammed Shami was the big name missing, and it seems like the team management has moved on from the senior pacer across formats. Reddy missed out on the all-rounder’s spot to Shivam Dube, while Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar both were left out, with Kuldeep back in the mix since heย was always going to return to the side when fully fit.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jurel was the fifth and final omission from the squad that played against England, even though the 24-year-old has found a place in the standbys.
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