Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav explains reason behind Shubman Gill's return to T20I squad

Shubman Gill has been picked as India’s vice-captain for Asia Cup 2025.

The Board of Control for India (BCCI) announced the India squad for Asia Cup 2025 on Tuesday, August 19. India chief selector Ajit Agarkar revealed the 15-member squad during a press conference in Mumbai along with Suryakumar Yadav, who will lead the side in Asia Cup 2025.

The highlight of the squad was Shubman Gill getting named as India’s vice-captain for the tournament. He will be making his return to the T20I team after more than a year, with his last game coming against Sri Lanka in July last year.

Gill impressed many with his performance in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper finished as the fourth highest run-scorer in the tournament, smacking 650 runs in 15 games. At an average of 50.0 and a strike rate of 155.87, the 25-year-old slammed six half-centuries in the season, including a top knock of an unbeaten 93 runs.

Suryakumar Yadav explains reason behind Shubman Gill’s return to T20I squad

While revealing the India squad for Asia Cup 2025, Suryakumar Yadav was asked about the reason behind Gill’s return to the T20I squad as a vice-captain. The Indian skipper pointed out that Gill was the vice-captain in the Sri Lanka T20I series last year after ICC T20 World Cup 2024. He added that the batter didn’t get enough opportunities later as he got busy with test cricket.

“Last time when he played T20Is post the World Cup, when we went to Sri Lanka, he was the vice-captain. That’s where we started the new cycle for the T20 World Cup. After that, we got busy with Test cricket, and he didn’t get opportunities. We are happy to have him,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Mohammed Siraj were a few names who could not get a place in Asia Cup 2025 squad. The tournament will commence on September 9 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India are part of Group A with teams like Pakistan, UAE, and Oman in their pool.

India, who defeated Sri Lanka in the final of the last edition in 2023, will enter this year’s tournament as the defending champions. They will play their opening game of the tournament against UAE on September 10.

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