What The Asia Cup Selection Tells Us About Indian Cricket

A cool and calm Ajit Agarkar along with India’s T20I Captain Suryakumar Yadav addressed the press conference. A discussion on the 15 member squad picked for the Asia Cup, which will be played in the T20 format.

“The reason Sanju & Abhishek were playing was because Gill was not available”. These were to the tune of what Agarkar’s words were when asked about Shubman Gill returning as the vice captain.

The logical deduction then is that your vice captain obviously plays in the XI. Which then means either Sanju or Abhishek get the axe. Is this fair? Does it make sense? All of this is probably up for debate. But what we know for certain is the direction in which Indian cricket is heading. And spoiler alert: we’ve seen it before!

The Asia Cup Squad

India announced its 15-member squad on mostly expected lines:

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh

The only real surprises were whether or not the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill & Yashasvi Jaiswal would finally find a place for this year’s Asia Cup. And that is where, we saw Gill return as the vice captain. Unfortunately, both Iyer & Jaiswal were snubbed of places in the 15.

The outrage on social media was quite the spectacle and understandably so. The non-selection of Shreyas Iyer has to be one of the most baffling decisions. Given not only his incredible IPLs, where across 2 seasons, he’s amassed 955 runs at 45.4 and striking at 163.5, but also because of his leadership ability.

Here’s a man who not only led KKR to a title in 2024 but also turned around the fortune of one of the worst teams, by leading the Punjab Kings into an IPL final in 2025. With a resume that boasts of these accolades, along with a Syed Mushtaq Ali win for Mumbai as captain, you really wonder what more a player can do to make a case for himself.

Readers may also like: Shreyas Iyer Captain: The Case for India’s Next White-Ball Leader

What it means?

It is all too clear that the management have a gameplan in mind. And it is easily deduced through this selection. Shubman Gill, while making a strong case for himself through his own brilliant IPLs with the bat, still was a bit of a surprise pick. This, given his non participation in some recent T20I series for India.

While you cannot fault either Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma, it seems obvious now that Samson will face the axe in order to accommodate vice captain Gill in the XI.

This push for Gill in the T20I setup and him already being Test captain, along with being a constant in the ODI setup just simply means that the management is looking at him as the next all format captain.

Sure, Suryakumar Yadav still leads India into the 2026 T20 World Cup and yes Rohit Sharma is still the ODI captain, but for how long? In a manner similar to his predecessor of the MRF bat sticker, Shubman Gill is very likely walking down the Virat Kohli path. With him almost certainly in the mix to take over as all-format captain for India quicker than we would have anticipated.

It is no secret that Indian cricket has its heroes. Neither is it a secret that Shubman was earmarked as the next big thing in Indian cricket. It is also no coincidence for him to have the same bat sponsor as Sachin Tendulkar & Virat Kohli. The brand of Shubman Gill gallops forward, steadily moving forward, very likely taking Indian cricket to its next peak.

But is this good or bad for India? That is something that only time will tell. For now though, we hope to see players like Shreyas get their due reward. While getting right behind India, come the Asia Cup and the many ICC events lined up year on year till 2031.

Exciting times these, and none feeling the excitement more than the man at the centre of it all. India’s new knight in shining armor, Shubman Gill.