Suryakumar Yadav to lead India in Asia Cup 2025, Shubman Gill named vice-captain

Guwahati: Swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav will captain a 15-member Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, scheduled to begin on September 9 in the United Arab Emirates.
Test skipper Shubman Gill has been named his deputy.

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has also returned to the T20I squad after a gap, strengthening the bowling attack.

The squad was announced by Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar at a press conference in Mumbai on Tuesday. The meeting of the selection panel was delayed for several hours as Agarkar was unable to reach the BCCI office on time due to heavy rains in the city.

The five-member selection committee — Agarkar, SS Das, Subroto Banerjee, Ajay Ratra and S Sharath — finalised the squad in the presence of skipper Yadav and BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia.

This year’s Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format and will feature the much-anticipated India-Pakistan clash on September 14. Despite growing calls for boycotting matches against Pakistan, the BCCI is unlikely to withdraw, given that the tournament is a multilateral event.

Speculation around the final team combination had included names such as Riyan Parag, Rinku Singh and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

With stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja having stepped away from T20Is, the selectors have opted for a relatively young side under the leadership of the 34-year-old Yadav.

India’s Asia Cup 2025 Squad: Suryakumar 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.