After a hard-fought 2-2 tie in the five-Test series against England, the Indian squad will now focus on the Asia Cup 2025, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 9 to 28. According to recent changes in India’s tournament lineup, top batter Shreyas Iyer will not be part of the Men in Blue.
Iyer, who has been a consistent middle-order contributor for the Indian squad, along with Test skipper Shubman Gill and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, are expected to be overlooked for the forthcoming event. The reason behind this is reported to be the team management’s reluctance to go past the current lineup, which features in-form batters such as Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and Tilak Varma. As a result, Iyer’s brilliance as a captain and as an individual, which included leading Punjab Kings to the IPL 2025 final, hasn’t helped his cause for a return to T20Is.
“Yes, the team for the Asia Cup will be picked on Aug 19 in Mumbai. The selection committee meeting will be followed by a press conference by chief selector, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar. In fact, with India looking to persist with the opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, Gill is currently struggling to even make it to the side. Even Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a great series in England, and middle-order bat Shreyas Iyer are likely not to be picked for the T20 side. Jaiswal has been told by the selectors to focus on red-ball cricket,” a source revealed in a report in The Times of India on Thursday.
Shreyas Iyer isn’t out of the national set-up completely, though.
He was India’s best batter in the Champions Trophy 2025 and has sort of cemented the No. 4 spot in the One-Day International (ODI) side. In case he actually misses the Asia Cup squad, he will represent West Zone in the Duleep Trophy, a team that will be led by Iyer’s Mumbai and India teammate Shardul Thakur for the 2025 season.
Suryakumar Yadav to attend team selection meeting
India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav will fly to Mumbai from Bengaluru, where he is in BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) after recuperating from a sports hernia injury. A report had previously mentioned of his travel to Japan, but it is assumed that he has returned to the garden city, and will be available for the team selection meeting at the BCCI Headquarters on August 19.
The Asia Cup will begin with a match between Afghanistan and Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on September 9. India will play UAE on September 10 at Dubai. Their hyped clash against Pakistan will be played on September 14 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
After their impressive performance in England, the Men in Blue will look to carry forward their momentum into the continental T20 event. As the defending champions, India will be aiming to clinch a record-extending ninth title in the tournament’s history. They last won in 2023, defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final at Colombo.
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