India’s road to T20 World Cup 2026 begins with Asia Cup
India’s preparations have begun for their T20 World Cup defence next year as they announced the squad for Asia Cup 2025.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav emphasised that the Asia Cup will serve as the first of many checkpoints for India as they prepare to defend their title at next year’s T20 World Cup at home.
"This is the first big tournament which we are playing after the T20 World Cup [in 2024]. We played three-four bilateral series, but it's a good tournament to test ourselves, and there are a lot of T20Is after this," Suryakumar Yadav said during the press conference for the Asia Cup squad announcement.
"I think close to 20–22 T20Is in total before we play our first game in the [2026 T20] World Cup. So I think the journey starts from the Asia Cup."
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“The preparations, obviously, we had a little bit of an idea after the last World Cup, which way we are going to go," Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar added.
"But as we get closer, you know who your 16, 17, 18 guys are, and you want to try and give them the best possible opportunity going into the World Cup. So right, it starts now. And you know, these next few months are going to fly by with lots of cricket coming thick and fast."
The Indian squad saw some notable exclusions, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer missing out despite strong IPL seasons and consistent performances for India across other formats.
"I mean, it's just unfortunate again," Agarkar said. "There's Abhishek Sharma, what he's done over the last few months or a year or so, that has been the team. Plus, that he can bowl a little bit, gives us an option if required by the captain.
"One of these guys was always going to miss out. It's just unfortunate. Yashasvi might have to wait for his chance."
"You will have to tell me who we can replace here. Again, no fault of his, nor is it ours. It's just that you can pick 15, and at the moment, he'll have to wait for his chance."
In another big takeaway from the announcement, India’s Test captain Shubman Gill not only returns to the T20I squad but has also been elevated to the role of vice-captain.
Suryakumar Yadav was happy to have Gill back and reiterated that the opener was always a key part of the new-look India T20I squad.
“In my opinion, the last time Shubman Gill played a T20I for India was when we went to Sri Lanka. When I was leading, he was the vice-captain. That's where we started the new cycle for the T20 World Cup,” said Suryakumar.
“After that, he got busy with all the Test series. He didn't get an opportunity to play T20Is because he was busy with Test cricket and the Champions Trophy. He is in the squad and we are happy to have him.”
India will kick off their Asia Cup campaign on 10 September against UAE in Dubai, followed by a clash with Pakistan at the same venue on 14 September, before meeting Oman in Abu Dhabi on 19 September.