Predicting India's 2025 Asia Cup squad ft. Abhishek Sharma & Varun Chakaravarthy

The BCCI are expected to announce India's squad for the 2025 Asia Cup during the upcoming week. There have been a number of reports regarding the selectors' expected approach for the tournament, and guessing the ideal route they will take is a natural exercise.

With a plethora of options across departments, India could have a few challenging decisions to make. There are also a couple of fitness concerns regarding key players, ones that could influence the make-up of the contingent. Nevertheless, we attempt to predict the names who will be on the flight to the UAE.

What could India's 15-man squad for the 2025 Asia Cup look like?

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Predicting India's 2025 Asia Cup squad

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Reports suggest that India will appoint Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the T20I side. While there are many players vying for a spot at the top of the order, Gill has done exceedingly well across formats in recent times, and the selectors are known to value that.

The skipper, Suryakumar Yadav, hasn't played any cricket in a while, as he is recovering from a surgery. However, SKY is expected to feature in the Asia Cup, which is an important tournament for the side's future.

Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Sanju Samson are guaranteed to feature, having been integral parts of the T20I side in recent times. The same goes for Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy, who are the leaders of the pace and spin attack respectively.

What about Jasprit Bumrah? The ace spearhead played three of the five Tests against England, and reports suggest that he is dealing with a few niggles. While India would want him to feature amid all the ongoing controversy surrounding his workload, it might be a better idea to save him for the more important assignments. With India having no real challenge in the form of opponents at the Asia Cup, resting Bumrah would be ideal.

India will need at least one fast bowler in the lineup to support Arshdeep and Hardik, as well as one on the bench. Harshit Rana is a frontrunner despite his relatively poor Indian Premier League campaign, while Prasidh Krishna could re-enter the fray in the shortest format following his Purple Cap triumph.

The conditions in the UAE are likely to aid spin, so India would want to pick their side with bowlers of that variety. Kuldeep Yadav has worked well in tandem with Chakaravarthy, and Gautam Gambhir clearly has a ton of faith in Washington Sundar. The duo could occupy two of the 15 slots, although their participation in the playing XI isn't guaranteed as of now.

The remaining slots are all up for grabs.

Abhishek Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal are both immensely talented openers who have done well in the format. While Gill's potential presence could ask a couple of questions on whether both can be selected, their impressive T20 credentials would make them hard to leave out.

Tilak Varma is another player who has done well in recent times for India. He could pip the likes of Shreyas Iyer to a spot in the squad, while Rinku Singh could miss out after a period of indifferent form in T20Is. With India needing a finisher, Jitesh Sharma could take up that role, doubling up as a backup wicket-keeper to Samson.

India's predicted 2025 Asia Cup squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill (vc), Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Tilak Varma.