India will begin their campaign against the UAE on September 10.
After levelling the five-match Test series against England, India are now focusing on the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, slated to begin from September 9 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Men in Blue will begin their campaign by locking horns with the UAE on September 10, followed by the game against Pakistan four days later.
After wreaking havoc with the bat, scoring 754 runs, including three hundreds and one double century against England, India’s Test captain Shubman Gill is likely to make a comeback in the T20I setup. As per reports, if Gill is added to the mix, he may become the vice captain, replacing Axar Patel.
The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan may have to wait. Veteran batter KL Rahul, who is the first-choice in ODIs, is unlikely to feature in India’s squad as he doesn’t fit in India’s T20 middle-order plans.
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Talking about India’s middle order lineup, the BCCI selection committee is unlikely to make any changes as Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead the side. Most likely, India’s top five batters would be Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya.
“Abhishek is currently the top-ranked T20 batter in the ICC rankings. Sanju was brilliant with both bat and gloves last season. Shubman had a strong IPL, and his Test form is incredible, but fitting everyone into the top order will be a big challenge,” a BCCI insider told PTI.
The Mumbai-based player Shivam Dube is likely to chip in as the back-up all-rounder.
Star batter Abhishek Sharma made his T20I debut for India in July 2024 against Zimbabwe. He also became the highest individual run-scorer for India in T20Is in 2025, smashing 135 runs off 54 balls against England with the help of 13 sixes and seven fours.
Tilak, who made his T20I debut in August 2023, holds the feat of amassing two consecutive T20I centuries. The left-hand batter attained this milestone against South Africa in November 2024 with scores of 107* and 120* respectively.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav is the backbone of India’s middle-order batting when it comes to the shortest format of the game. He holds the record for the most Player-of-the-Series awards (five) in T20 Internationals. The Mumbai batter is also the fastest Indian player to score 2,000 T20I runs, reaching there in just 56 innings.
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Another opener, Sanju Samson, made his T20I debut for India in July 2015. The Kerala-based batter scored three T20I centuries in 2024, which is the most by an Indian in a single year.
Samson has already presented his case as a primary wicketkeeper; the second keeping slot is a race between Jitesh Sharma and Dhruv Jurel. Jitesh made a strong statement during RCB’s victorious IPL run, especially with his finishing abilities.
On the back of these numbers, the middle-order batting of the Indian team looks solid. Therefore, it is expected that the team management is likely to go with the same lineup in the upcoming Asia Cup 2025.
