India and their No.8 problem persists despite strong squad as they still sorely lack a bowler who can hit sixes.
India have almost every base covered, but No. 8 issue persists.
With the exception of a few exceptional or multi-talented players, India has so much specialised T20 talent that it can pick almost any other set and win 20-overs cricket. There are no incorrect selections for the five additional places when these players—Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel—are healthy and available. However, there is one critical position that India still struggle with, which we will come back to.
In this context, we ought to examine India’s Asia Cup squad. India won the 2024 T20 World Cup without losing a single game, and they have only gotten better ever since. They have further strengthened their opening combination with this most recent choice.
Shubman Gill returns as vice-captain after serving as vice-captain during his previous T20I appearance before being sidelined as India prioritised other formats. This essentially indicates that he will bat first alongside Abhishek Sharma. Gill appears to be the superior T20 batter, as evidenced by his strike rate of 155.87 with medium-risk batting in the IPL 2025, but Sanju Samson hasn’t done much wrong as an opener in the opportunities he has had.
There will always be batters who are terribly saddened to be left out of any selection for India’s T20I teams. In this instance, Yashasvi Jaiswal is the man. Abhishek has demonstrated an even greater offensive potential while he has been out, along with some helpful part-time bowling.
The Weakness
Although only three of them can play together at any given moment, Bumrah, Kuldeep, Varun, and Arshdeep Singh choose themselves to be in the 15-man squad. This leads us to India’s lone T20I weakness and the next unfortunate player to miss out. Since India wants a No. 8 who can hit sixes, Prasidh Krishna was unable to join the team. With 25 wickets and an economy rate of 8.27, Prasidh had a fantastic IPL 2025. However, India must make the same error that his IPL team, Gujarat Titans, kept making: starting Rashid Khan at No. 7 without any batting support.
Harshit Rana has not yet converted his batting prowess into statistical success. However, if Harshit’s batting fails, India’s inability to hit will continue to be a problem, which may compel its specialist batsmen to reduce their aggression.
India’s alternative is to use Shivam Dube and weaken the bowling. He, Hardik, Axar, and Abhishek would then each have to bowl eight overs. In addition, unless the pitch is ragging, one of the mystery spinners is left out.
With this pick, India has only strengthened as a T20I team while keeping the core that enables dominance. There will be quite a few opportunities between now and the World Cup early next year to fine-tune the batting roles and the odd bowling position. Those who have been left out shouldn’t be discouraged just yet.