India vs United Arab Emirates, Asia Cup 2025: The selection of Shubman Gill as vice-captain in the squad for T20 Asia Cup 2025 led to many speculations. Experts said that Sanju Samson may lose his opening spot to Gill and Jitesh Sharma will keep wickets. On the eve of the UAE clash, captain Suryakumar Yadav assured everyone that Samson will be taken care of and the decision will benefit the team. Hours ahead of the UAE clash, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released a video where Samson can be seen resting on the bench with his eyes closed and gear on, during a training session.
"It was a long off, but I am back," Suryakumar said with a wink. "Before we take on the world, let's conquer Asia first."
Suryakumar will be playing for the first time after recovering from the sports hernia surgery.
Meanwhile, Gill reminded that India are defending champions and have won the Asia Cup eight times.
"Eight times, to be precise,” Gill said.
World’s no.2 ranked batter Tilak Varma reiterated what Suryakumar had said about not taking UAE lightly.
"Not taking any opponent lightly,” Tilak said.
Apart from Pakistan, India have associate nations in their group. After facing UAE in their campaign opener, their last group stage game is against Oman. India have never faced Oman across formats.
Samson in good form
Samson has been good form. He scored a century and three half-centuries in Kerala Cricket League (KCL) 2025. He tried his hand in the middle-order but did not get the desired results. Before heading to UAE, his strike rate in the state T20 tournament was 186.80.
India’s squad for T20 Asia Cup 2025 -
Surya Kumar 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, Yashasvi Jaiswal.