The Board of Control for Cricket in India will convene on Tuesday, August 19, in Mumbai to ratify the 15-member contingent for the 2025 Asia Cup roster. Preliminary briefings indicate that the two exceptional recent performers, Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj, remain under review and may ultimately be omitted from the announced ensemble.
Though Gill amassed the second-largest aggregate in the recent Test series on English soil, eclipsed narrowly by the outstanding mark set by Sunil Gavaskar for overseas fixtures, selectors are privileging current limited-overs indicators in the selection calculus.
His IPL credentials as a top-order batsman notwithstanding, the berth is eroding in favour of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, the anticipated first-choice combination. Parallel study lists include Yashasvi Jaiswal as a standby candidate.
The envisaged mid-ordered composite would constitute Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and, contingent upon late medical assessments, Rinku Singh, whose inclusion is surrounded by circumstantial uncertainty. The all-round compartment is under perusal, with Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar vying for the final vacancies.
Jitesh Sharma is already provisioned as the assistant wicketkeeper. Shreyas Iyer’s medical clearance remains unfinalised, and the selectors, should his participation be endorsed, will face a binary choice between Nashik’s Rinku Singh or the Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube, to sustain tactical equilibrium.
Siraj, presently India’s foremost wicket-taker from the recent Test series against England, remains in a state of conjectural readiness. Jasprit Bumrah is anticipated to spearhead the seam attack, with auxiliary roles filled by Arshdeep Singh and a choice confined to either Prasidh Krishna or Harshit Rana.
Hardik Pandya is poised to be included in the side as a batting all-rounder capable of contributing with the seam. Mohammed Shami, whose last appearance in the format occurred against England earlier this year, is not under consideration.
The slow-bowling component appears to be in the joint custody of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, and vice-captain Axar Patel, while Washington Sundar enters the selection discussion as a former member of the February T20I assemblage whose recent conferment allows him to remain under review.
A complete and final squad must be unveiled on Tuesday, a disclosure that would resolve the protracted conjectures of several weeks. For Shubman Gill and Siraj, the ultimate judgment is likely to reflect not only their respective recent record but, more decisively, the selection panel’s theoretical assessment of India’s equilibrium in the short-format environ.
