With India's squad for Asia Cup 2025 to be announced on August 19, the selectors still have several big decisions to make. There are many players in the squad whose place is not certain and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee will have to make some bold calls. The biggest question mark currently is on the participation of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
According to a report by Sportstar, both Gill and Jaiswal will not be given a place in India's squad for the continental tournament. This is due to the fact that the two-match Test series between India and West Indies will begin from October 2 while the Asia Cup will end on September 28. So with there being next to no time for the players to rest between the two assignments, the selectors want both Gill and Jaiswal to be fresh for the red-ball series.
The report further stated that both Shreyas Iyer and Jitesh Sharma are likely to earn call-ups to India's Asia Cup squad. While the former played a massive role in the Punjab Kings reaching the final of IPL 2025, the latter was a key player in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's squad that won the title.
Both Shreyas and Jitesh were brilliant in IPL 2025
Notably, both Shreyas and Jitesh haven't featured in T20Is since Gautam Gambhir was appointed as India's head coach in July, 2024. The former last made an appearance in the format in December, 2023 while the latter played his last T20I game in January, 2024.
The report also mentioned that the selectors favour Shreyas as they want an experienced batter in the middle-order. That is why the 30-year-old is very likely to be present in the squad. It also needs to be mentioned how the batter played a crucial role in the Men in Blue's Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Asia Cup 2025 will commence from September 9 and India will begin their campaign from September 10 with the clash against UAE. They will then be facing-off against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14 before wrapping up their group stage with the clash against Oman on September 19.