ASIA CUP 2025
After his heroic exploits in England, selectors mull how to fit Shubman Gill in © BCCI
The Indian team selection for the Asia Cup will not be a normal or routine affair, as there are usual options and then there are more compelling options. The selectors will be spoilt for choice, and picking the squad will require a delicate and yet highly critical balancing act. They are expected to meet early next week, most likely on August 19.
Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj and, above all, Jasprit Bumrah – the creme de la creme of Indian cricket – are all available for the September 9-28 continental championship, making it difficult to leave any of them out. None of them featured in the T20I squad India last played in February. But that was a home bilateral series against England.
This will be the Asia Cup, a tournament where India are likely to clash with arch-rivals Pakistan not once, or twice, but thrice, potentially, in an unusually high-voltage and high-strung atmosphere. The outlook will be to pick a squad that can be as close to fail-proof as possible.
Gill and Siraj are suddenly the toast of the country, having delivered in very testing conditions and circumstances, and leaving them out will be a bold call – particularly the captain, who returned a staggering 754 runs in the just-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series. Immediately on return from England, Gill has made himself available for the Duleep Trophy, sending a message to the BCCI and the national selectors that he is ready to play – play all cricket. Gill last played a T20I more than a year ago. He was a travelling reserve during the US leg of last year’s T20 World Cup.
It will not be easy for the selectors to leave him out, but it will be equally difficult to accommodate him. With a settled opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, followed by Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Hardik Pandya, the batting line-up is packed with proven performers. Gill, of course, is a cut above most of them in terms of quality and performance.
Gill had a highly impressive IPL season with 650 runs at an average of 50 and a strike rate of over 150. He was fourth in the batting charts behind Sai Sudharsan (759), Suryakumar Yadav (717) and Virat Kohli (657). With Kohli having retired from T20Is, Gill has emerged among the top three scorers of the IPL season, making it difficult for the selectors to ignore him. One understands there is a possibility of his inclusion but the question is at whose expense.
If Gill was the highest scorer in the Anderson-Tendulkar series, Siraj was the most successful bowler, having bowled more overs, more deliveries and taken more wickets, including the series-equalling scalp at the Oval in a stunning display of tenacity, attrition and determination. Like Gill, Siraj too has not played a T20I for more than a year, but his inclusion in the squad is a matter of debate.
Unlike Gill – also his IPL captain – Siraj (16 wickets from 15 games) did not have a great IPL. In fact, his India and GT teammate Prasidh Krishna (25 wickets from 15 games) had a better season. With Bumrah, the best in the business, expected to be available, the selectors will need to do some tough balancing act, as much as when deciding on Jaiswal and Iyer. There is apparently a temptation to include them, but it is evidently not easy to have them both in the squad.
© Cricbuzz
