India’s Former Test Skipper Backs Arshdeep Singh To Hunt In Pair With Bumrah In Asia Cup 2025 | Cricket News

India Test veteran Ajinkya Rahane praised the selection of the pace bowler Arshdeep Singh in the Asia Cup 2025 squad led by Suryakumar Yadav. He believes the Punjab-born fast bowler will make a significant impact for India in the upcoming tournament starting on September 9. Rahane, who captained India during their memorable Border-Gavaskar Trophy victory in Australia, expressed confidence that with Arshdeep in the squad, the team need not rely solely on Jasprit Bumrah for pace bowling in the Asia Cup. 

He said on his YouTube channel, “I am excited to see Arshdeep Singh bowling with Bumrah. We all know his ability, his skill work. He can swing the ball both ways but also he can bowl those yorkers with the new ball and that’s a very good skill to have. You don’t want to depend every time on Bumrah or any other bowler. Arshdeep can bowl those yorkers, straight yorkers, wide yorkers. As I said earlier also, he can bluff the batsman. he has the slower ball and he has the ability to pick up wickets.”

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India, under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy, is set to start its Asia Cup campaign against the UAE on September 10 at the Dubai International Stadium. The league will also witness a high-profile contest between India and Pakistan on September 14 at the same venue. The Indian team has already arrived in Dubai and recently conducted full-fledged practice sessions at the ICC Academy in preparation for the tournament.

India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad includes Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, and Rinku Singh. The standby players are Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel.

The talking point of India’s selection was the omission of Shreyas Iyer and Mohammad Shami. Shreyas despite his purple patch plays just one format ; ODI for India now.

Asia Cup 2025 Schedule

Group Stage Matches

Sep 9 – Afghanistan vs Hong Kong (Group B), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 10 – India vs UAE (Group A), 7:30 PM, Dubai

Sep 11 – Bangladesh vs Hong Kong (Group B), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 12 – Pakistan vs Oman (Group A), 7:30 PM, Dubai

Sep 13 – Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (Group B), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 14 – India vs Pakistan (Group A), 7:30 PM, Dubai

Sep 15 – UAE vs Oman (Group A), 3:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 16 – Sri Lanka vs Hong Kong (Group B), 7:30 PM, Dubai

Sep 17 – Bangladesh vs Afghanistan (Group B), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 18 – Pakistan vs UAE (Group A), 7:30 PM, Dubai

Sep 19 – Sri Lanka vs Afghanistan (Group B), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Sep 19 – India vs Oman (Group A), 7:30 PM, Abu Dhabi

Super Fours

Sep 20–26 – Super Four Matches (Top 2 teams from each group), 7:30 PM, Dubai & Abu Dhabi

Final

Sep 28 – Final, 7:30 PM, Dubai