Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India is all set to play the upcoming 2025 edition of the Asia Cup that will be held in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The upcoming continental championship is nothing but a dress rehearsal for the ‘Men in Blue’ and their aspirations for the World T20. India are the defending champions of the T20 World Cup and they’ll get a chance to defend their title in front of their home crowd in 2026. India will start their Asia Cup campaign on September 10 with a match against the United Arab Emirates.
Sanju Samson And Shubman Gill Might Feature In The Same XI, Here’s Why
Despite all the criticism of India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad, it is a no-brainer that the selectors have covered all the bases and at this point in time, it looks like one of the strongest squads of the tournament. Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion has been debated about a lot, but with Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav’s presence in the side, it was always going to be extremely difficult for India to have Iyer in the squad, let alone the playing eleven.
Shubman Gill’s inclusion and his appointment as the vice captain of the Indian T20I team has also been discussed for a long period of time. Many fans and experts think that it will be a straight toss-up between Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill for the opener’s slot, but that might not be the case. India’s number three in the T20I format, Tilak Varma, has struggled against slower deliveries and on sluggish surfaces and this trait of his might go against him and he might be rested with Shubman batting at number three.
A total of 19 games will be played in the Asia Cup. The Dubai International Stadium will host 11 games and Abu Dhabi will host a total of eight games. Out of their three league games, India will play two games in Dubai. Things tend to get even more trickier as five out of the six Super Four games will be played in Dubai.
Kuldeep Yadav vs Varun Chakaravarthy, Gautam Gambhir’s Biggest Selection Dilemma
The tracks in Dubai have neither been too kind to batters nor the spinners. The average first innings score of the Dubai International Stadium is 139, whereas the average second innings score is 123. In the recently concluded 2025 edition of the ILT20, pacers have enjoyed bowling more as compared to the spinners in the Dubai International Stadium.
In the 2025 edition of the ILT20, fast bowlers claimed 116 wickets at an average of 25.80, whereas spinners managed to take only 54 wickets at 29.40. It is an open secret that the surface in Dubai is sluggish and the ball won’t come on to the bat properly. India do have a solid pace and spin attack. The presence of quality fast-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya and quality spinning all-rounder bolster India’s attack, but they still might be tempted to use the pacers more considering the recent trends at the Dubai International Stadium.
If the stats are taken into consideration then either Varun Chakaravarthy or Kuldeep Yadav will find a place in India’s starting XI. Not to forget that dew is a huge factor and it will also play a big role and will bother the spinners as gripping the ball under lights won’t be an easy task.
Predicting Two Versions Of India’s XI With Different Team Compositions
- India’s Predicted XI with one specialist spinner: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy/Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh
- India’s Predicted XI with two specialist spinners: Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana and Jasprit Bumrah