Mumbai, 19 August

Test skipper Shubman Gill was on Tuesday appointed India's T20 vice-captain for next month's Asia Cup where Jasprit Bumrah will also be there to bolster the team's bowling attack even as a strong contender like IPL-winning captain Shreyas Iyer missed out due to abundance of talent in the format.

The 25-year-old Gill's last T20 International match was against Sri Lanka at Pallekele in 2024 and he has now replaced Axar Patel as the deputy of skipper Suryakumar Yadav in the 15-strong squad.

Asia Cup begins on 9 September and India is placed in Group A of alongside Pakistan, Oman, and the UAE.

Gill's inclusion was hardly a surprise after a stupendous run in the recent Test rubber against England where he scored four hundreds in the drawn five-match series.

"Gill's form in England was something we expected but he exceeded it all," chief selector Ajit Agarkar said during the squad announcement press conference here.

However, the management will have to ponder over Gill's batting slot during the continental showpiece because Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have forged an effective pair at the top.

Agarkar looked at it as a delightful problem of plenty rather than a headache.

"There are more options (for top order) now and Shubman has been in a great form anyway. When they get to Dubai, they can decide on the playing XI according to the opposition and the conditions," said the former India pacer.

But the team think tank has the option of pushing Samson down to the middle-order, where the Kerala batter batted quite often in the past, and gave Gill the opening slot.

Agarkar hinted as much.

"Sanju was playing because Shubman and Yashasvi were not available at that point (and) so was Abhishek. (But) Abhishek's performances clearly makes it hard to leave him out. Plus, his bowling is handy," he said.

"Like I said, he (Shubman) was (the) vice-captain the last time he played T20 cricket. That was after the last World Cup so even at that point, clearly we were thinking along those lines.

"Now that he's available, at least he (Suryakumar) has two options. It's their headache to pick the batting lineup (now); ours was to pick the 15 and so. But we've got some real depth as far as T20 cricket is concerned and we are very happy with it," he added.

Bumrah returns

There were some lingering doubts on Bumrah's availability largely due to the proximity to the home Test series against the West Indies in October.

The Asia Cup final is scheduled on 28 September in Dubai, while the first Test against the touring Caribbeans is set to begin on 2 October at Ahmedabad.

But the selectors opted to pick him nonetheless and this will be Bumrah's first T20 tournament since last year's World Cup.

Apart from the Asia Cup and the series against the West Indies being close to each other, Bumrah's workload management plans too might have been considered before arriving at the decision to pick him for the Asia Cup.

As per the strategy, Bumrah played only three matches in the five-match series against England recently, but Agarkar said they have not put in place any rigorous rule on how to manage the pacer.

"There's no written plan at the moment. We have had a nice break from the England series. We are trying to look after him.

"...most fast bowlers are monitored and it won't change. How we require him (for future tournaments) is also important," he said.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav too has been drafted in, while Jitesh Sharma will be the back-up wicketkeeper batter.

Agarkar said Jitesh has evolved a lot as a T20 batter in the last year. The wicketkeeper batter was in good form for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2025, often chipping in with vital runs down the order. The sentiment was shared by Surya.

"He's taken one game at a time. The way he did in the IPL and also in the domestic tournaments which he played, the T20s and the one-dayers and he's done really well and he's earned his spot again," the skipper stated.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was among the five standby players chosen by the selectors. The other four are: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.

"It's unfortunate that Jaiswal has had to miss out but he will have to wait as what Abhishek Sharma has done on the top of the order cannot be looked past," Agarkar said.

Sundar was expected to get a place in the first 15 mainly because of head coach Gautam Gambhir's preference for all-rounders.

But it would have been hard to ignore the feats of Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy in the recent past and left-arm spinner Axar also brings in immense value as a batter flexible enough to come in anywhere in the order.

No place for Shreyas

Another prominent name missing in the squad was Shreyas Iyer, who showed tremendous form while guiding Punjab Kings to the IPL final earlier this year. This was a season after guiding Kolkata Knight Riders to a trophy-winning campaign.