Team India for Asia Cup: Shubman Gill appointed vice-captain, Bumrah included

Test skipper Shubman Gill was on Tuesday appointed vice-captain of India's 15-member T20 squad for next month's Asia Cup, which will also feature pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Gill's last T20 match was against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2024 and he now replaces Axar Patel as the deputy of skipper Suryakumar Yadav. The Asia Cup gets under way on September 9 in the UAE.

“Gill's form in England was something we expected but he exceeded it all,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar said during the squad announcement press conference here.

There were some lingering doubts on Bumrah's availability largely due to the tournament's proximity to the home Test series against the West Indies in October.

But the selectors opted to pick him nevertheless and this will be Bumrah's first T20 tournament since last year's World Cup.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, too, has been drafted in, while Jitesh Sharma will be the back-up wicketkeeper-batter.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was among the five standby players chosen by the selectors. “It's unfortunate Jaiswal has had to miss out but he will have to wait,” Agarkar said.

Another prominent name missing in the squad was Shreyas Iyer, who showed tremendous form while guiding Punjab Kings to the IPL final earlier this year. Agarkar blamed it on the abundance of T20 talent that makes it difficult to accommodate him.

“We have got some serious options in T20 squad...sometimes not the easiest squad to pick but good headache to have,” Agarkar said.

India is placed in Group A of the Asia Cup alongside Pakistan, Oman, and the UAE.

India squad for Asia Cup:

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