India’s T20I dominance over the past two years has been built on a winning formula: a balanced squad with deep batting and versatile bowling. But as the selectors announced the team for the 2025 Asia Cup, questions arose about whether they’ve strayed from the blueprint that made them world champions.
The squad selection under new head coach Gautam Gambhir suggests a shift in approach. While the inclusion of Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube follows recent trends, the choice to favor Shubman Gill over Yashasvi Jaiswal or Shreyas Iyer hints at long-term leadership planning. But the bigger issue lies in the squad’s structural imbalance. Past tournaments have shown that India thrives when it has both batting depth and bowling flexibility. Have they compromised that balance?
Rewind to the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia. Injuries to Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel left the middle order exposed, and when early wickets fell, India had no safety net. The lesson was clear: a lack of back-up options costs games when it matters most. By the 2024 T20 World Cup, they corrected this, deploying three all-rounders to provide insurance. Ravindra Jadeja’s mere presence, even without major contributions, offered tactical freedom. The result? Eight wins, zero losses, and a trophy.
But Jadeja has since retired from T20Is, and Gambhir’s philosophy leans toward maximizing batting depth rather than maintaining bowling variety. During his IPL stints, Gambhir prioritized stacking the lineup with hitters, sometimes at the expense of all-round stability. This approach worked in franchise cricket, but international cricket demands a different calibration.
A tour of South Africa in late 2024 exposed the risks of this strategy. With the top order collapsing twice, India’s lack of resilience down the order led to subpar totals. The selectors responded by doubling down on batting depth, but now, heading into the Asia Cup, the team faces another dilemma.
India’s bowling attack for the tournament is formidable—Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, and Varun Chakravarthy are world-class. But fitting all four into the lineup means sacrificing either a specialist bowler or batting insurance at No. 8. Neither scenario is ideal. Arshdeep, India’s leading wicket-taker, could find himself benched if the team prefers spin-heavy lineups. Alternatively, playing an extra batter weakens the bowling options, leaving just five bowlers, including part-timers, to cover 20 overs.
The lack of a reliable third all-rounder intensifies the problem. Harshit Rana hasn’t shown enough consistency with the bat to fill that crucial lower-order role. Washington Sundar, a more natural candidate, wasn’t selected. Without a balanced core, India risks repeating past mistakes—especially on flat Asian pitches where batting-heavy teams dominate.
The solution might lie in accepting a trade-off. Playing both Abhishek Sharma and Shivam Dube could bolster the batting but leave the bowling vulnerable. Conversely, stacking the side with specialist bowlers risks collapse if the top order falters. Either way, the Asia Cup will test whether Gambhir’s gamble pays off or if India’s winning formula has been tampered with too much.
Fans will be watching closely. After years of success built on balance, any deviation from that model comes with risks. The Asia Cup isn’t just about winning—it’s about proving that India’s selectors haven’t forgotten what made them champions in the first place.