The BCCI selectors have recalled Shubman Gill in the capacity of vice-captain in a 15-member T20I squad for the Asia Cup, to be held in the UAI from September 9-28.
From India’s previous T20I squad – a series of five games against England in January and February – there are four changes. Jasprit Bumrah has replaced Mohammed Shami – who has not played a competitive cricket match since May 2 during the IPL – and Kuldeep Yadav has taken Ravi Bishnoi’s place, while Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar have been dropped.
Gill, India’s Test captain and deputy to Rohit Sharma in ODIs, has been picked despite not playing a T20I since July 2024. He is the third opener in India’s Asia Cup squad – which means that Yashasvi Jaiswal did not find a spot – and this potentially means that the management will break up the successful opening pair of Abhishek Sharma, the top-ranked batsman in T20I cricket, and Sanju Samson.
Tilak Varma remains the likeliest option to bat at one-down, while the middle order options comprise Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube and Jitesh Sharma.
Rishabh Pant, recovering from the fractured foot sustained in England, has expectedly not been picked. The second wicketkeeper’s spot after Samson has gone to Jitesh, who played the last of his nine T20Is in January 2024.
Jitesh, 31, was the most successful wicketkeeper in this year’s IPL and scored 261 runs at a strike-rate of 176.35 for winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru, with three stand-out innings: an unbeaten 40 off 19 balls against Mumbai Indians, a stunning 85 not out from 33 versus Lucknow Super Giants, and a 10-ball 24 in the final with Punjab Kings.
Bumrah will lead a pace attack featuring T20I regulars Arshdeep Singh and Pandya, as well as Harshit Rana, who made his debut in the format as a concussion substitute and claimed three wickets in what remains his only T20I to date. Kuldeep was injured during the T20Is at home against England earlier this year and has replaced Bishnoi.
There is place for Shreyas Iyer, who led a transformed Punjab Kings to the IPL final earlier this year while amassing 604 runs at an average of 50.33 and with a strike-rate of 175.07.
The Asia Cup will be played this year as a T20I tournament, given that the T20 World Cup is early next year. The same was done in 2022 ahead of the T20 World Cup, whereas in 2023 it switched back to the ODI format just before the 50-over World Cup. India are pooled in Group A at the eight-team event, alongside Pakistan, UAE and Oman.
The Asia Cup starts on September 9 in Abu Dhabi. India play their first match against hosts UAE a day later in Dubai, followed by fixtures with Pakistan on September 14, also in Dubai, and Oman on September 16 in Abu Dhabi.
India T20I squad for Asia Cup: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
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