On Tuesday afternoon, India announced their T20I squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, which is set to commence from September 9 to 27 in the United Arab Emirates.
As the chairman of selectors and a former India bowler Ajit Agarkar read the squad, a couple of shocking snubs were seen, with Test captain Shubman Gill returning as vice captain and Shreyas Iyer missing out.
The selectors and captain have decided to stick with the winning combination that helped them clinch the recent South Africa and England series ahead of the recent Champions Trophy.
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India announces the Asia Cup 2025 squad; Iyer and Gill face a shocking snub
Following a great IPL season as both batters and captains, Gill and Iyer were both heavily reported to be serious candidates to return to the T20I squad. However, only Gill made it back to the team.
After a triumphant season with the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Punjab Kings captain scored 604 runs in their run to the final in 2025. He averaged 50.33 with a strike rate of 175.07 in the season and got 6 fifties to his name.
On the other hand, Gill scored 650 runs in 15 innings of the season at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 155.87 at the top of the order, while also leading the team to the Eliminator.
Additionally, Gill was also the highest run-scorer of the recent Test tour of England, scoring 754 runs in 10 innings at an average of 75.40 for his 4 centuries.
India will go with Shubman Gill as their 3rd opener after Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. The likes of Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube have been retained over Iyer for the middle order spots.
What are Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer's T20I stats?
Gill has scored 578 T20I runs in 21 innings, including 3 fifties and a century. Iyer has 1104 runs in 47 innings with 8 fifties to his name. Both batters have almost identical average and strike rate in T20Is.
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| Batter | Innings | Runs | Avg/SR | Highest | 50/100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shubman Gill | 21 | 578 | 30.42/139.27 | 126* | 3/1 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 47 | 1104 | 30.66/136.12 | 74* | 8/0 |
What is India's squad for the Asia Cup 2025?
Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh