Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dube are potentially locked in as middle-order batters, but there are a couple of slots still up for grabs. Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma are in contention for a middle-order spot, alongside Rinku Singh and Riyan Parag. Varma would be hard to ignore for the selectors, given that he registered two consecutive T20I centuries against South Africa and scored a fifty against England this year.
Tilak is likely to be picked for the Asia Cup, but Shreyas Iyer’s fate hangs in the balance, despite having a brilliant outing in the IPL 2025, amassing 604 runs in 17 matches, and in the Champions Trophy 2025, where he was India’s highest run-getter. His last appearance in T20Is was in March 2023, coming against Australia.