New Delhi: The gap in quality between India and the other seven countries in the Asia Cup is so big that it is an understatement to say that Suryakumar
Yadav’s boys are the favourites to win the T20 tournament.
Afghanistan take on Abu Dhabi in the opener on Tuesday but the tournament would begin in right earnest when the United Arab Emirates host the star-studded Indian team in Dubai on Wednesday.
Since the T20 World Cup is around the corner, the Asia Cup is unmistakably a dress rehearsal for it where teams would look to fine tune their squads.
India have such an embarrassment of riches that they could thinking of excluding Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, to batters who walk into any of their opposing teams.
With eights previous triumphs (seven in ODI format and one in T20 format in 2016) India won’t gain much brownie points should they win but a skip would put the players and head coach under scrutinty before the T20 World Cup in February-March of next year.
Should they reach the final, India would get roughly 20 games to get their combinations in order for the T20 World Cup.
In Suryakumar, they have a skipper with an 80 percent win record but it his camaraderie with vice-captain Shubman Gill that would be watched closely.
Opponents in focus
Considering that Pakistan are in transition and Sri Lanka are in rebuilding mode, it would take some doing to stop India from winning.
Pakistan have dropped former skippers Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan and look to create a youthful identity under Salman Ali Agha and would appear on the back of a T20 tri series win.
They have a potent pace attack of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Hasan Ali and an impressive spinner in Mohammad Nawaz.
Preps in full swing 💪
The countdown to 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝘿𝙖𝙮 begins ⏳#TeamIndia | #AsiaCup2025 pic.twitter.com/3SC57XILxD
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 7, 2025
Under Charith Asalanka Sri Lanka would have to be consistent if they have to go the full distance. Bangladesh and Hong Kong are not expected to pose much of a challenge.
Afghanistan though could pose a real challenge through their penetrative spinners in talisman Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed and the emerging A Ghazanfar.
The UAE and Oman are teams filled with NRIs and would look to gain experience from playing against some top names in world cricket.
