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Kuldeep has picked up 69 wickets in 40 T20Is played so far, whereas Chakaravarthy has accounted for the dismissal of 33 batters in 18 T20Is.
Sunil Gavaskar picks Kuldeep Yadav over Varun Chakaravarthy in India’s playing XI for Asia Cup 2025. (Picture Credit: X/@BCCI and PTI)
The 2025 edition of the Asia Cup is set to start in three days’ time. India will open their campaign on the second day of the eight-team tournament. India’s first Group A match is scheduled against hosts United Arab Emirates at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 10, and then the Suryakumar Yadav-led side will take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the same venue on September 14.
In the Asia Cup 2025 squad, Indian selectors included two specialist spinners — Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy — three pacers — Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana — and three all-rounders — Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel.
According to batting legend and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, Kuldeep should feature in the playing XI, and he feels that the Indian team management could leave out one among Rinku Singh or Shivam Dube.
“With Axar Patel also likely to play in this side as a left-hander and somebody who can bowl four good overs, it looks like somebody like Rinku and Shivam might have to wait a bit before they get an opportunity,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by PTI.
“My feeling is that they might not extend the batting to No. 8 and look for the bowlers, maybe Kuldeep at 8 and then 9, 10, and 11, your 3 fast bowlers.
“So it actually makes it 4 fast bowlers when you include Hardik Pandya and two spinners as six bowlers in your team, which is always very good to have because sometimes if one bowler is having a bad day, you want somebody else who can come in and bowl for him,” he added.
Gavaskar also made it clear that Jasprit Bumrah will have no workload-related issues since it will be only four overs of bowling per match, and that too in two or three spells.
“In this Asia Cup, it is just a question of bowling four overs, and even that is not four overs at a stretch… So I don’t think there will be any problem for him to play this tournament.
“I mean, there will be no workload problem for him because he has to bowl only four overs, and there can be no problem.”
September 06, 2025, 14:27 IST
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