Asia Cup: Suryakumar Yadav fit to lead again, Jasprit Bumrah confirms availability but suspense over Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer inclusion

MUMBAI: As Indian selectors convene at the BCCI office today to finalise the squad for the Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE from Sept 9-28, the primary focus will be on maintaining continuity and supporting the young and successful T20 specialists.

India’s T20 captain, Suryakumar Yadav, will attend the meeting, having cleared his fitness test at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. This almost ensures that SKY remains the T20 skipper, potentially through to the 2026 T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar will address the media after the selection meeting, which will be followed by the announcement of the Indian team for the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup.

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Contrary to expectations, star batter and Test captain Shubman Gill, despite his impressive performance during the England tour, faces challenges in securing a place in the 15-man squad. “Gill is a terrific batter. The selectors and head coach Gautam Gambhir are all huge fans of his batting, and he is rated almost as highly as Virat Kohli in terms of potential. “However, he doesn’t fit into the T20 scheme of things right now. Presently, the idea is to persist with ’keeper-bat Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as openers, with Tilak Varma coming in at No.

3 and skipper Suryakumar at No 4. “Abhishek and Varma are rated as the No. 1 & No. 2 batters in T20Is in the ICC rankings. How can you keep them out?” a source told TOI. Gill had a successful IPL 2025, scoring 650 runs in 15 matches at an average of 50 with a strike rate of 155.87 as Gujarat Titans captain. However, Samson, Sharma, and Varma have recently performed well in T20Is, earning the confidence of the team management. Samson had hit three hundreds in T20Is last year—two against South Africa in South Africa and one against Bangladesh in Hyderabad.

Tilak also scored back-toback centuries in South Africa in Nov 2024. Although the 22-year-old had an average IPL, scoring 343 runs in 16 matches at 31.18 for the Mumbai Indians, it is unlikely to affect his selection prospects. “Even Hardik Pandya had a bad IPL last year (while captaining MI), but he turned out to be one of India’s biggest heroes in their 2024 T20 World Cup triumph in West Indies. Even greats like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have endured bad IPLs.

You can’t judge a player just by one IPL,” a source pointed out. Abhishek Sharma is a certainty after blasting 135 off 54 balls against England in Mumbai in Feb. “The current top four in India’s T20 cricket reflect their new-found resolve to play fearlessly. In fact, if you are talking about taking a third opener in the Asia Cup squad, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s case is stronger than Gill’s. Jaiswal tends to hit a lot more boundaries in the powerplay, which is mandatory in T20 cricket.

Jaiswal was also in India’s main squad in the T20 World Cup last year, while Gill was in the reserves,” the source pointed out.

However, it is learnt that Jaiswal, who scored two centuries in the Test series in England, has been asked to focus on red-ball cricket for now, considering India are scheduled to play four Tests at home in the 2025-26 season, two each against West Indies and South Africa. One reason why the selectors could be loath to pick Gill and Jaiswal is the fact that if India reach the Asia Cup final on Sept 28, then both would have only a four-day turnaround for the first Test against West Indies, starting in Ahmedabad on Oct 2.

With vital WTC points at stake, India would not want to compromise on the preparation of two of their key Test batters. Shreyas Iyer, like Gill, is also struggling to make the squad despite captaining the Punjab Kings to the IPL 2025 final and being in strong form. The 30-year-old was India’s top run-scorer in their Champions Trophy triumph in Dubai in March, amassing 243 runs in five matches. However, as things stand, Iyer faces competition from big-hitting left-handers like allrounder Shivam Dube and ‘finisher’ Rinku Singh. BUMRAH AVAILABLE In positive news for India, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, whose workload management was under scrutinty, has confirmed his availability for the Asia Cup. “Bumrah had a minor knee injury but will be fit for Asia Cup. He is supposed to report to the BCCI’s CoE on Aug 30 for a fitness assessment,” a source told TOI. That would mean Bumrah will miss the first Test against West Indies. Meanwhile, pacer Mohammed Siraj, who bowled India to victory at the Oval, is likely to be rested for the Asia Cup but will be available for the Test series against the West Indies at home.

Other bowlers expected in the squad include seamers Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna — who won the Purple Cap in IPL-2025 with 25 wickets for Gujarat Titans — and Hardik.

Prasidh may, however, compete for a spot with Delhi pacer Harshit Rana. Among the spinners, Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav are certain to feature on the slow pitches in the UAE along with Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. Jitesh Sharma, a standout performer for IPL champions RCB, is expected to be selected as the second wicketkeeper.