Reigning Asia Cup Asia champions India have announced their 15-man squad for next month Asia Cup in the UAE with Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah included. Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and middle-ventilator Shreyas Iyer are however left out.
The team is headed by Suryakumar Yadav who succeeded Rohit Sharma as the T20 captain following India winning the World Cup last year. Gill is the Test captain of India but he last played a T20 international back in July 2023, as Suryakumar, on the Sri Lanka tour, deputized.
There is where the new cycle started, said Suryakumar. He was engaged in Test cricket and the Champions Trophy so did not get a chance in T20. I am glad to get him back.”
Pace spear Bumrah is also back and the team management is worried about his work load. Earlier this year he had played three of the five Tests in England.
Jaiswal was the unfortunate one to be left out with Gill, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as available opening choices. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar has conceded it was a close decision:
This is unfortunate with Yashasvi. Abhishek was outstanding during the past year and can also provide us with an option in bowling. One of them had to lose and Yashasvi will have to wait his turn.
There are two wicketkeepers in the team with Samson and Jitesh Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav selected as the spinner. India will start their Group A in Dubai against the host UAE before playing arch-rivals Pakistan in the same venue in four days.
Asia Cup Squad India: Suryakumar Yadav, Batting: Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh.
