Asia Cup 2025: Shubman Gill Named Vice-Captain, Creates Big Controversy

By Abhishek Kumar

BCCI has announced India’s team for the Asia Cup 2025. The tournament will be played in UAE from 9 to 28 September. Suryakumar Yadav is the captain. The shocking part is Shubman Gill coming back as vice-captain.

Why is this Shocking?

This decision is surprising for everyone. Because Gill was out of T20 cricket for more than one year. He did not play a single T20 international match in the last 12 months. Still, he has been given such a big role in the Asia Cup team.
On the other side, Shreyas Iyer is dropped. This is the biggest question. Iyer played really well in IPL 2025. As a captain and as a player, he performed well. Still, he is not part of the main squad. Yashasvi Jaiswal is also missing from the team. Both are only in standby list. Fans are not happy with this decision.

The team has mix of young and senior players. Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube are in the squad. In bowling, Jasprit Bumrah is back. This is a big boost for India. Along with him Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel are also included.
But still, the main discussion is only about vice-captain. Why Gill? Why not Iyer or Jaiswal? Former players are also asking same question. Some experts even said there is favouritism in selection.

India’s squad looks strong. But the selection has created big controversy. Shubman Gill as vice-captain is the talking point. Now the pressure will be on him to prove himself in Asia Cup 2025.