Asia Cup 2025: Here is how India's starting XI for the tournament could look like

After a lot of speculation and anticipation, India named their squad for the 2025 Asia Cup on Tuesday (August 19). As is the case with squads for any high-profile tournament, there are notable absentees and this time, it happened to be Shreyas Iyer. Without going into detail about his exclusion, it is fair to say that the Mumbai batter was treated harshly, given that he wasn't even picked in the standby list of players.

According to reports, it was a toss-up between Shubman Gill and Iyer for a spot in the top order that already has the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Verma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav in the mix. In such a scenario, you'd have thought that the selectors might go for a lower middle order batter or an all-rounder to add depth to the squad. If they had to go for a specialist batter, Iyer's white-ball form and IPL success arguably edged it in his favour. However, Gill's obvious pedigree and leadership nous got him in, which again is awkward because Iyer's captaincy skills are well-documented over the last 12-18 months.

Nevertheless, the 15-member squad has been picked and it is time to have a look at the possible combinations that India could field in the tournament. What could their starting XI be for the tournament? Suryakumar's side start their campaign with an encounter against local boys UAE in Dubai. With Gill in the squad and appointed vice-captain, he is certain to start. It puts the think tank in a dilemma, because Samson and Sharma have been doing a great job as an attacking opening pair. However, the Kerala batter did struggle a bit against genuine hard length pace bowling and perhaps, there could be a thought to move him a spot down to no.3, which is where he has batted primarily in his career.

This, however, could upset the whole batting order as Varma and Suryakumar are also batters who are at their best batting in the top four. Given that Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel are a lock-in, including Samson would at 3 could make the other batters bat out of position. At this stage, Samson's spot for the tournament opener is in jeopardy. According to whether he plays or not, there are two possible starting combinations for India in the tournament.

If Samson does play, he will slot at 3, followed by Suryakumar, Varma, Hardik with Axar Patel likely to bat at the no.7 spot. However, batting depth, which is coach Gautam Gambhir's favourite funda, could get a hit as Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav are all expected to start. This means that India need a seamer who can bat at no.8, that leaves only one candidate in this squad - Harshit Rana.

Scenario 1: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy

Now, if Samson misses out, it opens up a spot for Dube, who has to contest for a spot with Rinku in the lower middle order. Samson missing out would mean Suryakumar at 3, followed by Varma, Hardik, Dube and Rinku with the remaining order to stay the same.

Scenario 2: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh/Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy

There are other factors to consider as well, with the temptation of adding an extra pacer in Arshdeep Singh who offers exceptional new-ball value with his left-arm pace. However, that would mean upsetting the batting order and also sacrificing on batting depth which might not sit well with Gambhir's ideology.

Interesting days ahead, that's for sure.