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With the Indian cricketing calendar coming to a halt after their 2-2 Test series draw against England in the United Kingdom, the next major event is the Men’s Asia Cup. The continental tournament is scheduled to be played from September 9 to 28 in the UAE with India entering as the defending champions. The tournament will be played in T20I format, with Suryakumar Yadav leading the side.
However, Suryakumar Yadav was named the T20I captain after Rohit Sharma announced retirement from the format following India’s T20 World Cup triumph last year. With Suryakumar at the helm, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be having a tough time selecting the 15-member squad for the marquee tournament.
Sanju Samson to be India’s first-choice wicketkeeper; no place for KL Rahul: Reports
If reports are to be believed, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is set to announced the squad by August 19 or 20, depending on when the Centre of Excellence’s (CoE) Sports Science team shares medical updates around players, including Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and others. Meanwhile, the selection committee has a lot of work in hand as it would be a tough pick with Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and others in picture in the shortest format.
A BCCI source close to developments recently shared an update around the squad, which said that Sanju Samson is likely to walk in as the first-choice wicketkeeper and KL Rahul is unlikely to find a place. Furthermore, it added that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan are unlikely to get a place with Abhishek Sharma being the No. 1 T20I batter and Shubman Gill being a top pick seeing his recent run of form.
"Abhishek Sharma is world's No. 1 T20 batter in last ICC rankings. Sanju Samson has been fantastic last season with both bat and gloves. So it will certainly be a tough call but Shubman in current form (although in Tests) can't be ignored. He had a good IPL also. Problem for selectors is, there are too many performers at the top of the order," a BCCI source privy to developments told PTI.
India's likely squad for Men's Asia Cup 2025:
Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana/Prasidh Krishna, Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma/Dhruv Jurel
