India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad announcement: Shubman Gill poised for T20I return; will Jasprit Bumrah play all matches?

Following the 2-2 series draw against England, the focus has shifted to India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad announcement, which is expected to be out by August 19 and 20. The Asia Cup 2025 starts on September 9 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with India beginning their campaign against UAE on September 10 followed by the India vs Pakistan clash four days later.

After his mind-boggling 754 runs including three hundreds and one double ton against England, Indian Test captain Shubman Gill is set for a return in the T20I setup after more than a year. If several media reports are to be believed, Gill be handed the vice-captaincy role, replacing Axar Patel. Interestingly, Gill was Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy when the right-hander played his last T20I against Sri Lanka in 2024.

But the biggest question mark will be about Gill’s batting position. The 25-year-old bats at No.3 in ODIs and No.4 in Tests. With Suryakumar already set at No.4, Gill might take up the role of an opener alongside Abhishek Sharma, following his 650 runs in IPL 2025 for Gujarat Titans at the top of the order. If Gill opens the batting, then Sanju Samson is expected to take the no.3 spot in the order.

How many games will Jasprit Bumrah play?

Another big question will be the availability of Jasprit Bumrah. The India pacer, who played just three out of five Tests against England, due to his workload management is fit to be picked for the Asia Cup 2025. With a month-long rest, Bumrah will get the much-needed recovery ahead of India’s grueling schedule.

With Bumrah all set to unleash his weaponry against Pakistan, Bumrah might play India’s opener against UAE, if he needed any white-ball match practice. Certainly, he will be rested against Oman in India’s final group A game on September 19. Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh will be India’s other pacers with Hardik Pandya adding up to the third seamer’s role.

For the unknown, the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2025 will only be selected after BCCI gets the fitness reports of all players from the medical team at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru.