The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is expected to pick the squad for the Asia Cup on August 19 or 20.
Shubman Gill is the toast of the town following his prolific display in the recent Test series against England, but he will be competing with Axar Patel for vice-captaincy in the Indian squad for the Asia Cup T20 scheduled in the UAE next month.
Moreover, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is set to feature in the continental event and might be rested for the opening Test against the West Indies in early October.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is expected to pick the squad for the Asia Cup on August 19 or 20 depending on when the Centre of Excellence's (CoE) Sports Science team sends the medical bulletin of all players, including that of skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who has already started batting at the nets in Bengaluru.
The selectors will have some tricky decisions to make but they would certainly like to maintain continuity which has given them a lot of success under Suryakumar’s captaincy.
While Axar was the designated vice-captain during India's last series against England at home, Gill was the deputy when Suryakumar was first appointed full-time T20I skipper for the Sri Lanka series last year.
It is learnt that the selection panel won't be too keen to experiment as Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya form a solid top five.
"Abhishek Sharma is world's No. 1 T20 batter in last ICC rankings. Sanju Samson has been fantastic last season with both bat and gloves. So it will certainly be a tough call but Shubman in current form (although in Tests) can't be ignored. He had a good IPL also. Problem for selectors is, there are too many performers at the top of the order," a BCCI source privy to developments told PTI.
With so many options in top-order, it would be very difficult for Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan to find a place in the squad.
Even KL Rahul, the first-choice keeper in ODIs, is unlikely to be considered as he doesn't bat in the middle-order.
While Samson is all but certain to be the leading wicketkeeper, the choice for the second keeper's slot will be between Jitesh Sharma and Dhruv Jurel. While Jurel was a part of the last T20 series, Jitesh had been impressive for RCB during their IPL 2025 title win. He has also excelled in the role of a finisher.
While Hardik Pandya remains India's premier all-rounder in white-ball cricket, Nitish Kumar Reddy, who sustained injury during the England series, is unlikely to regain fitness in time. Shivam Dube, who made a good comeback against England, is likely to find a spot in the squad.
Axar and Washington Sundar are likely to be the other two spin-bowling all-rounders in the squad.
As far as the seam-bowling attack in concerned, Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh have locked their slots while Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana will fight for the third spot.
Likely contenders: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana/Prasidh Krishna, Hardik Pandya, Jitesh Sharma/Dhruv Jurel.
(With PTI Inputs)