India Playing 11 For Asia Cup 2025 1st Match: The BCCI have named their 15-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, and most of these names are expected to be part of the T20 World Cup 2026 squad as well.
The Asia Cup 2025 will begin on September 9 and run until September 28. The tournament will be held in the UAE, though the BCCI will retain the hosting rights. The BCCI are the designated hosts, but with Pakistan not travelling to India, the continental competition was moved to the UAE.
India are placed in Group A alongside Oman, Pakistan, and the UAE. The high-voltage India vs Pakistan match will be played on September 14, Sunday, in Dubai.
India’s Asia Cup squad saw the return of Shubman Gill, and the Test skipper was given the T20I vice-captaincy as well; Gill was named the white-ball captain last year in July on the tour to Sri Lanka, and since then he hadn’t played any T20I with the focus shifting to Tests and ODIs. Gill had a prolific IPL season and is certainly being groomed to take over the captaincy in all three formats.
However, much of the outrage is about the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer, who had a stellar IPL season: 604 runs at a strike rate of 175. While Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2024, is named in the travelling reserves, Iyer didn’t find a place in the reserves either.
Harshit Rana has been picked over Prasidh Krishna, who was the Purple Cap holder in IPL 2025. Perhaps the selectors and management feel Harshit offers more variety than Krishna and is definitely a better hitter as a batsman than the latter.
We are now tasked with picking India’s predicted XI for their first match of the Asia Cup, which is against the UAE on September 10 in Dubai.
Several of the 15-member squad pick themselves straight into the XI: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, and Arshdeep Singh.
Regarding the top order, since Gill is named the vice-captain, he is set to open. Abhishek Sharma is more likely to be the second opener. He’d continue the left-right combination he had with Sanju Samson, and Sharma also offers part-time left-arm spin.
This means that either Samson goes to No. 3, a role he’s performed in the IPL, or goes out of the XI. India have picked Jitesh Sharma as another wicket-keeper in the squad. Jitesh had a sensational IPL season for RCB in the finisher’s role.
The exclusion of Samson seems a large possibility given Tilak Varma hammered two consecutive centuries last year in South Africa and also adds a left-handed option at No. 3 to pair with Suryakumar and Hardik in the middle order. Since India have an in-form Jitesh in the squad, Samson is likely to make way for the returning Gill.
The No. 8 spot is a huge bone of contention for India. Do they play Harshit Rana; or do they risk weakening the bowling a bit and play Shivam Dube to lengthen their batting; or do they simply do away with the theory of batting depth and play a wicket-taking bowler in Kuldeep Yadav at that spot?
There’s also a chance that India could drop Arshdeep and play Hardik Pandya as the second seamer, as they did in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final and final, which were also in Dubai, to accommodate both Kuldeep and Varun.
India Playing 11 For Asia Cup 2025 1st Match – Predicted
Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube/Harshit Rana/Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025:
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Kuldeep Yadav, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah
Standby Players: Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag
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