Sanju Samson Dropped, Rishabh Pant Included: Ex-India Star's Bold Asia Cup 2025 Squad Picks (Image Credit - X)
The fight to make it into the India Asia Cup 2025 team is intensifying and some of the established names might be in the firing line. Test skipper Shubman Gill is said to be not definitely a surety to make the final team and so is Shreyas Iyer.
Notwithstanding the confusion, former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has supported both Gill and Iyer, selecting them in his variant of the 15-man squad to play in the Asia Cup 2025. His selections however were a sore spot as he omitted three players who have featured consistently in the T20I fold recently.
Probably the most radical decision made by Harbhajan was to drop Sanju Samson. He instead chose Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul as two wicket-keeper batters, a choice that was called into question since the very announcement. In the last year, Samson has been a regular player at the top of the order in T20Is.
Harbhajan also lost mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. Rather, he preferred Kuldeep Yadav to be the key spinner, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel as all-rounders in the spin department.
Inclusion of Shubman Gill was a must for Harbhajan Singh. He placed a lot of weight on Gill being able to move between formats and be useful in T20Is even though he is considered better suited to longer matches.
“Yes, we do have players like Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma, but you cannot undermine or underestimate Shubman Gill. He is a very talented batter who can adapt to any format. He is an all-format player,” Harbhajan said in an interview with Times of India.
He further added, “In my opinion, he can play T20s and even dominate the format. We as fans are used to seeing fours and sixes every ball, but you also need batters who can play long innings and rescue the team when required.”
The 2007 T20 World Cup champion also gave another shock by dropping Tilak Varma, who is ranked second on the ICC T20I batting charts. Instead, Harbhajan opted to select Shreyas Iyer who has played in some crucial moments.
Moreover, Riyan Parag was included in the 15 of Harbhajan. The overall performance of the youngster apparently has led the veteran to support him in a major championship like the Asia Cup 2025.
The other interesting choice was the appearance of Mohammed Siraj. Despite the reports that he is not even part of the official team, as Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana are in demand, Harbhajan did not hesitate to recommend Siraj because of his pace and swing.
Harbhajan Singh’s chosen 15 for the Asia Cup 2025 features a mix of experienced internationals and promising youngsters: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohammed Siraj.
India begins its campaign in the Asia Cup 2025 against the hosts United Arab Emirates on September 10, one day after the Asia Cup 2025 begins. The final much-anticipated will be held on September 28.
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