India’s Asia Cup squad: A step forward or backwards?

Selections of Indian cricket teams, whatever the format or occasion, are seldom straightforward decisions and invariably each announcement brings with it a mix of criticism and cheer. The latest BCCI selectors’ meeting in soggy, wet Mumbai on August 19 to pick a 15-man squad for next month’s Asia Cup in the UAE has, not surprisingly, divided opinion.

The return of Shubman Gill, who last played a T20I in July 2024, is the call that could tip the apple cart. The 25-year-old is India’s Test captain and recently led the team to a 2-2 draw in England – a fantastic achievement given the nature of the Test squad – while amassing 754 runs with four 100-plus scores. He is the team’s vice-captain in ODIs, the format he has had the most success in, leading India’s run list since 2020. 

The message seems to be clear from the selectors: they want Gill to become a three-format player, given his outrageous talent, and appear keen on having, in the not too distant future, one captain for Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He is, let’s face it, the current poster boy of Indian cricket post the exit of Virat Kohli from two of three formats. 

But does Gill’s style of batting in T20 cricket fit into India’s embracing of a more aggressive, riskier approach since Suryakumar Yadav was named captain? 

In 2024, after stumbling for several years while falling behind the curve – most tellingly during the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups – the Indian team made up for lost time by taking risks, adopting a more aggressive intent, and shedding their cloak of conservatism. This helped them end the year with a 25-2 run, which spanned five bilateral series wins and a T20 World Cup title. 

In 2024, their batsmen hit more sixes (every 12.19 deliveries) than ever before in the pursuit of big totals, and they had four centurions which is the most for any team in T20 cricket during a 12-month period. Better strike-rates led to more boundaries and bigger totals, facets that for too long had held India’s batting back (case in point, again, being the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups).

During this run, Gill played eight T20Is and scored 266 runs with a strike-rate of 133. With a cut-off of eight innings, Gill’s strike-rate is the third lowest for India’s top seven, ahead of only Rishabh Pant (131.36) and Kohli (119.20). Sanju Samson (180.16), Yashasvi Jaiswal (172.35), Abhishek Sharma (171.81), Rohit Sharma (160.16), Suryakumar (151.59), Rinku Singh (151.23), Hardik Pandya (150.42) and Shivam Dube (134.54) all struck at superior rates.

Now what is noticeable on Gill’s part is his response in IPL 2025. Opening for Gujarat Titans, he improved his strike-rate to a very healthy 155.87 on the way to 650 runs at an average of 50, with 24 sixes. But Gill’s batting in T20 cricket remains rather risk-averse, and he does not hit the ball in the air like most of his team-mates – two factors, as outlined already, that shaped India’s tremendous success last year. 

So, what does his return to India’s T20I squad, and that too as vice-captain, mean for the team? Prima facie, it signals the breaking up of the opening pair of Abhishek and Samson, who together did not exactly do great things – just one 50-plus stand in 12 matches together – but whose individual success during this team has been noteworthy.

During this period, Abhishek – the No 1 ranked batsmen in T20Is – struck at 193.84 and scored two blazing centuries, while Samson scored three centuries and had a strike-rate of 152.38. Abhishek slugged 41 sixes and Samson had 49. 

Given that Gill is the vice-captain, he surely will not wear the 12th man bib and carry drinks. He has to open, which means that Samson looks like the one to make way (that Tilak Varma has not been dropped for Shreyas Iyer indicates how much the selectors value his success in 2024 batting at No 3). 

This would be harsh on Samson, who selflessly bought into India’s risky approach in 2024 when at one time it looked like he would struggle in that role. Having reinvented himself as a T20I opener for India, scoring three centuries in the span of five matches last year, Samson is starting at time on the bench. This could, one feels, significantly shift the momentum that India had achieved under SKY in 2024. 

The onus is squarely on Gill to buy into India’s mantra and bat the way the others have been since he last played a T20I. There’s no reason to believe he will not – he does have a T20I century at a strike-rate of 200, after all – but it is asking a lot of a batsman who has greater responsibilities in the Test and ODI formats.

Another man who has reason to feel aggrieved after today’s selection for the Asia Cup is Shreyas Iyer, who during this year’s IPL amassed 605 runs at a strike-rate of 175 while dominating pace and spin. While it is tough to fit Iyer into a middle order featuring SKY, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and a wicketkeeper-finisher, looking at Rinku Singh’s loss of form in T20Is and the IPL, having a solid player like Iyer, whose success under pressure is one of his hallmarks, would have been a very good call. 

And if not Rinku, then Iyer could have been picked instead of Shivam Dube, who has not exactly lit up the T20I stage in his India opportunities. 

This squad is for the Asia Cup, but there are enough indications of Mission 2026. Following the completion of the Asia Cup on September 25, the Indian cricket team has three bilateral T20I series scheduled: five in Australia, five at home against South Africa and then five more versus New Zealand also at home in the new year. 

Post the Asia Cup, if any changes are made to the T20I squad, then those 15 bilateral matches will be the closest indication to how the BCCI selectors and the captain and coach are thinking vis a vis the World Cup.