India set for a busy end to the year

Indian cricket fans have plenty to look forward to over the next few months, with the men’s team scheduled to compete across all different formats of the game.

They will kick things off in September by participating in the Asia Cup T20I tournament in the United Arab Emirates alongside seven other nations.

The event will generate plenty of activity on the best betting sites in India, particularly when the eight-time champions are in action.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

With that in mind, read on as we look at what is on the agenda for India over the next few months.

India cricket schedule

• September 9-28 - Asia Cup – United Arab Emirates - T20I tournament
• October 2-14 - Tour – West Indies in India – 2 x Tests
• October 19 - November 8 – Tour – India in Australia – 3 x ODIs, 5 x T20Is
• November 14 - December 19 – South Africa in India – 2 x Tests, 3 x ODIs, 5 x T20Is

India squad for the 2025 Asia Cup

The selectors have confirmed the following squad for the 2025 Asia Cup:

• Squad: Surya Kumar 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, Rinku Singh.
• Standby: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.

Debate abounds ahead of the Asia Cup

Controversy is commonplace in Indian cricket and the run-up to the Asia Cup tournament has already generated more than its fair share of debate.

Plenty of pundits have expressed opinions about India’s squad and the captaincy situation, which has sparked an angry response from former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar.

"What is baffling is foreigners who have zero stake in Indian cricket, and much less knowledge about it, wading into the debate and adding fuel to the fire,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

“However great they may be as players and however many times they may have been to India, the selection of the Indian team is strictly none of their business.

“They should focus on their country's cricket and let Indians worry about our cricket. Amazingly, when their country's teams are selected, there's hardly anything heard from them about the selection.”

One of the main talking points around the Indian squad surrounds the captaincy, particularly for the one-day international format of the sport.

Shreyas Iyer has been tipped to replace Rohit Sharma, but former batsman Aakash Chopra believes Shubman Gill will get the nod from the selectors.

Gill has appointed as vice-captain of the T20I team and Chopra thinks this will be a stepping stone to him being handed the captaincy of the ODI side.

“The next (ODI) captain has been decided without a formal appointment,” Chopra said. “It has been decided that it will be Shubman Gill.

"He is the Test captain. He has been made T20I vice-captain - maybe not out of turn as they had a logic. Axar Patel hadn't done anything wrong, and no one felt that the spot would automatically go to him, and you could have argued against it as well.

“If he has been made the T20I vice-captain, he is already the ODI vice-captain. So don't ask the question. Gill is going to be the next captain.

"He is someone who leads by example, leading from the front, and who scores runs. A leader doesn't ask you to do what he says. A leader says 'do as I do’.' So, you set the example, and Gill does that job.”