Suryakumar Yadav reveals why Shubman Gil is named as India’s vice-captain for Asia Cup
Shubman Gill wasn’t part of India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2024. Following India’s victorious campaign, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja retired from the shortest format, and it led to India’s transition period in T20 cricket. India then played a five-match T20I series vs Zimbabwe. Shubman Gill was appointed as the captain as Suryakumar Yadav was rested in the series.
However, upon his return, Suryakumar led the Indian team in the T20I series vs Sri Lanka. Shubman Gill opened the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in that series. Gill didn’t play in the next three T20I series due to his commitments in other formats. Given how Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson performed as the opening pair in India’s last three T20I assignments, many believed that Shubman Gill had lost his place in India’s T20I side. However, he has now been named as India’s vice-captain for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025.
Shedding light on the same, India’s skipper Suryakumar Yadav said that Shubman Gill has always been an important part of India’s T20I set-up and was, in fact, the vice-captain in the last T20I series he played for India.
"Last time when he [Gill] played T20 for India, post T20 World Cup when we went to Sri Lanka - not Zimbabwe - when I was leading, he was the vice-captain," Suryakumar said after the selection meeting in Mumbai.
"So that's where we started a new cycle. After that, he got busy with all the Test series, and he didn't get an opportunity to play T20s because he was busy playing Test cricket and Champions Trophy. So he's there in the squad, and we're happy to have him." Suryakumar Yadav added.
India to kick off Asia Cup campaign against UAE
India will begin their Asia Cup 2025 campaign against the United Arab Emirates on 10th September in the United Arab Emirates. India are placed in group A, alongside Pakistan, UAE, and Oman.
India’s 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
