Ahead of the Men’s Asia Cup 2025, Irfan Pathan, one of India’s best all-around players of all time, has revealed his best playing eleven for the national side. India has already announced their team for the competition, which starts on September 9 and will take place in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The main event will be contested in the game’s shortest format.
Irfan Pathan has selected Punjab’s Abhishek Sharma and vice-captain Shubman Gill to start the innings, with the in-form Tilak Varma at No. 3.
The two most seasoned all-rounders selected by the Baroda native via his official YouTube channel on Saturday, September 6 are Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel. Captain Suryakumar Yadav has been selected to bat at four to form the middle-order.
Irfan Pathan selection as wicketkeeper is a little intriguing because he requested Sanju Samson to take on the responsibility behind the wickets in addition to demoting him to the No. 5 spot. Jitesh Sharma, a cricketer from Vidarbha who is accustomed to batting in the middle order, was chosen by the selectors as their first-choice wicketkeeper. However, Samson has also batted in the middle order in the Kerala Cricket League and appeared to be in excellent form, which may have led the former cricket player to select the Thiruvananthapuram native.
The decision was quite simple among the bowlers because Kuldeep Yadav’s unconventional left-arm bowling would handle the spin department. However, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah will be in charge of the pace batteries. It should be noted that Axar and Abhishek serve as spinners, while Hardik will also offer a seaming alternative.
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Varun Chakravarthy make up Irfan Pathan’s best India playing eleven for the 2025 Asia Cup.
Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, and Suryakumar Yadav (captain) are the members of the India team for the 2025 Asia Cup.