Asia Cup 2025: India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar on August 19 announced Suryakumar Yadav-led side for the Asia T20 Cup 2025. Shubman Gill has made a return to the T20I squad as vice-captain.
Shreyas Iyer could not make it into the squad despite a stellar Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season as Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain. Agarkar said that Iyer will have to wait at the moment for his chance in the T20I side.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) vice-captain Jitesh Sharma has been picked as the backup wicketkeeper-batter in the absence of an injured Rishabh Pant.
Other notable omissions are opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, pacer Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, all-rounders Washington Sundar and Riyan Parag. Jaiswal was not included as Abhishek Sharma has done well as opener and can contribute with ball too. In-form Siraj did not find a place as the selectors persisted with young Harshit Rana.
“Sanju Samson was opening the innings because Gill and Jaiswal were not playing, and Abhishek, with the way he performed, it was hard to look beyond him,” Agarkar said in the press conference at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.
Bumrah has made a comeback to the white-ball squad after missing the home series against England and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 due to back injury he suffered on Australia tour. Agarkar said that the physios have given him a go-ahead. He has had time to rest after playing three Tests in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025.
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
India's T20 Asia Cup 2025 Group Stage schedule -
India have been placed in Group A alongside United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan and Oman. India will begin their campaign against UAE on September 10 in Dubai. Their second match of group stage is against Pakistan on September 14 in Dubai. Their third group stage game against Oman will be at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on September 19.