In a very interesting move, the Indian cricket team management, headed by captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir, dropped Arshdeep Singh from India’s XI for their opening match of the Asia Cup 2025.
India, who are the reigning T20 World Cup champions and the defending Asia Cup champions, kicked off their campaign of this year’s continental event, which is in the T20 form, on Wednesday in Dubai against the Muhammad Waseem-led UAE team.
There had been a huge clamor among fans and experts regarding the position of Sanju Samson in the T20I side after Shubman Gill was added to the squad and appointed the vice-captain.
However, the out-of-syllabus debate emerged as Arshdeep Singh was dropped; Samson, meanwhile, was part of the XI along with Gill but is now pushed in the middle order, with Rinku Singh being benched.
The axing of Arshdeep Singh from India’s XI against the UAE is shocking. The left-arm pacer is India’s all-time leading T20I wicket-taker, with 99 wickets in 63 matches, having a healthy average of 18.3 and an economy of 8.29.
On form, he’s been terrific as well. Arshdeep was a key contributor to India’s triumphant T20 World Cup 2024 campaign in the USA and West Indies, snaring 17 wickets in eight games and showing impeccable composure in the tense matches against Pakistan and South Africa in the final.
Since Arshdeep’s T20I debut in July 2022, no bowler has picked more than his 99 T20I wickets among those belonging to Full Member nations.
Also, his exclusion is even more disturbing considering that the pitch on which the IND vs UAE match will be played is a newly laid surface and has some grass on it. Arshdeep’s left-arm angle, his ability to swing the new ball, his knack for bowling yorkers in the death, and his canny use of variations such as the slower ball, cutter, and bouncer—all of this makes up for a shocking omission made by the Indian team management.
India went with only three frontline bowlers: Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Jasprit Bumrah, as they continue to give importance to batting depth by picking Shivam Dube in the side. Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Dube, and Abhishek Sharma are the other bowling options who will have to make up for the other eight overs.
Fans were left confused and agitated by Arshdeep’s exclusion from India’s team against the UAE. Check out some reactions on Twitter.
IND vs UAE: Fans Left Surprised As India Drop Arshdeep Singh From Asia Cup Match
Meanwhile, Suryakumar won the toss and elected to bowl first.
IND vs UAE Playing XIs:
UAE: Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Rohid Khan, Harshit Kaushik, Alishan Sharafu, Muhammad Waseem (c), Asif Khan, Haider Ali, Simranjeet Singh, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Dhruv Parashar
India: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Sanju Samson (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy
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