Mumbai: 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 September 9 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 September 28 in Dubai, while the first Test against the touring Caribbeans is set to begin on October 2 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.

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.

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.

The all-rounder’s duty will be shared by Hardik Pandya, Axar and Shivam Dube.

India squad for Asia Cup:

Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.

Standbys: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.