Asia Cup 2025: Reserves won't join the India squad in Dubai, BCCI confirms
The Men in Blue are all set to launch their Asia Cup campaign on September 10 in Dubai. The Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to kick off a day prior, with Afghanistan opening the tournament against Hong Kong. Team India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, is placed in Group A for the ACC event along with Pakistan, UAE, and Oman. The BCCI has named a 15-member India squad for Asia Cup 2025, with the likely combination strongly backed by additional optional prospects. Meanwhile, as the group gears up to leave for Dubai, the BCCI has decided that the reserves need not travel with the main squad for the tournament.
India squad for Asia Cup 2025: Players to travel separately, reserves won’t join in Dubai
The India squad for Asia Cup 2025 witnessed Shubman Gill returning to the T20I fray after almost a year. India's Test captain has claimed the vice-captaincy spot in the shorter-format setup. Gill's inclusion in the mix, as the second lead, means that Sanju Samson is all set to hit the bench in the next phase of India cricket schedule. While the BCCI freed Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal of their T20I workload to focus on the longer format, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson gained the opening spots in the India T20 squad.
The openers produced some record-breaking knocks over the course of a year, establishing their claim on the vital batting spots. Abhishek Sharma has emerged as India's top run-scorer in the format since the 2024 T20 World Cup, scoring 535 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 193.84. His opening partner, Sanju Samson, ranks second in the list with 487 runs in 16 innings, struck at a strike rate of 171.47. Samson's show across the home series against Bangladesh and the South Africa tour includes the opener smashing consecutive T20I tons, hitting three centuries overall.
However, now with the BCCI bringing Shubman Gill back into the combination, Samson is set to face the axe. Meanwhile, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been named in the reserve list of the India squad for Asia Cup 2025. The reserve list, furthermore, has Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Prasidh Krishna, and Riyan Parag. Now, as the time nears for the squad to leave for Dubai, the BCCI has revealed that the five reserves will not travel with the team.
In case of any injury to Shubman Gill or Abhishek Sharma, the likely openers in the India Playing XI for the Asia Cup, Samson is available to fill in. Consequently, the need for Jaiswal to join the pecking order is highly unlikely. A BCCI official was recently questioned whether the standby players would need to travel to Dubai in the capacity of net bowlers or as backups. The official was quick to dash the possibility.
“No, the standby players will not be travelling with the main squad to Dubai," the BCCI official confirmed.
Meanwhile, a separate report has stated that the entire India squad for Asia Cup 2025 will not be traveling together. Unlike the usual practice where the squad first assembles in Mumbai and then leaves together for any tournament, players will head to Dubai from their respective locations this time. Moreover, the group is scheduled to assemble in Dubai on September 4 for the ACC tournament.
“All the players will arrive in Dubai by September 4 evening and the first nets session will be held on September 5 at the ICC Academy,” the official is further quoted as saying in the report. “Factoring in logistical convenience, the players will be allowed to fly into Dubai from their respective cities.”
“Obviously, a few will travel from Mumbai but to ask some of the others to first come to Mumbai and then fly to Dubai doesn’t make sense. In any case, Dubai is a short-duration flight compared to other international flights,” the official added.
India squad for Asia Cup 2025
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
