Asia Cup 2025 IND vs UAE: Shubman Gill returns, Sanju Samson demoted to Middle Order

Overview

• India had many changes to its Playing XI in the Asia Cup 2025 match against the United Arab Emirates
• Shubman Gill returned to the side and is likely to open the innings, while Arshdeep Singh did not feature in the XI
• Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, and Shivam Dube might all be demoted in the batting order

India had many changes to its Playing XI in the Asia Cup 2025 match against the United Arab Emirates. Shubman Gill returned to the side and is likely to open the innings, while Arshdeep Singh did not feature in the XI. Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, and Shivam Dube might all be demoted in the batting order.

Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first. While the Indian captain was not asked to name the XI, it was revealed later. Gill returned to the side after failing to make it to the T20 World Cup 2024. The Indian vice captain is likely to open the innings along with Abhishek Sharma.

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India's changes for the Asia Cup 2025 match against UAE

Gill's promotion could mean demotion of many batters in the batting order. Sanju Samson, who opened for India in 2024, is likely to bat at 3. It would mean the demotion of Tilak Varma, who mostly batted at 3 in 2024 and early 2025. Tilak might bat at 5 after the skipper, who could continue at 4.

Shivam Dube, who is a middle order batter, is most likely to finish the innings. Arshdeep Singh, who was one of the key performers for India in the T20 World Cup 2024 and in bilaterals after that, was rested for the match against UAE. Fans were not happy to see the demotion of many batters and the absence of Arshdeep in the XI.

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India's XI against UAE in Asia Cup 2025 -

Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson (WK), Suryakumar Yadav (C), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy