Shubman Gill over Axar Patel: The real reason behind India's vice-captaincy shake-up for Asia Cup 2025
has been named vice-captain in India's 15-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025 T20I tournament, to be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28. The appointment comes more than two years after Gill's last T20I outing in July 2023, when he had also served as deputy to
.
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T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav was asked about Gill being chosen ahead of
, who had been vice-captain in Gill's absence.
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"The last time he played T20Is for India was when we went to Sri Lanka after the T20 World Cup, not Zimbabwe. I was leading, he was vice-captain, and that's where we started the new cycle for T20 World Cup. After that, he got busy with all the Test series. So, he didn't get the opportunity to play anywhere in T20Is as he got busy playing Test cricket, as well as the Champions Trophy.
So, he is there in the squad and they are happy to have him," Suryakumar said at the press conference.
Gill's elevation comes on the back of a promising start as India's Test captain during the recent series against England.
The eight-team Asia Cup will be played in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Defending champions India are drawn in Group 'A' alongside Pakistan, Oman and the UAE.
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India will open their campaign against hosts UAE on September 10, before facing arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14 in a marquee clash.
Asia Cup 2025: India Squad Announced | Surya Named Captain, Gill Vice-Captain
Following the Asia Cup, India are scheduled to play 15 more T20Is in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka in February 2026.
India squad for Asia Cup 2025:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma,
, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
Standby players:
Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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