CHENNAI: In the next 48 hours, Indian men will be taking the field against United Arab Emirates in their first match of the Asia Cup 2025. Before they do so, there are a few things to finalise for captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir in terms of their batting line-up as well as team combination. Former India women head coach WV Raman, in a conversation facilitated by Sony Sports Network (the official broadcaster of Asia Cup), talks about a fair few of such questions the team management faces including Rinku Singh's place in the XI, the form of Suryakumar and more. Excerpts.
On Sanju Samson's place in XI
I think they'll probably go with Samson as keeper and make him bat in the top three for the simple reason that you've got very good all-rounders down the order and also you have somebody who's been known to be a finisher in Rinku Singh. There's no point in picking somebody like Samson, who's been rated very highly but yet not figuring as regularly as one would have hoped he would. But now that he's been picked and he's matured a lot more in the last few seasons, I, for one, would tend to believe that they'll go with Samson at the top of the order and doubling up as a wicket-keeper.
On Shubman Gill coming into mix
I think he's perhaps going to do something Sourav Ganguly did in his career. He's perhaps going to stick to middle-order in Tests and play at the top of the order in white-ball cricket. His inclusion is perhaps a part of the long-term, larger-picture decisions that are likely to be made. I think he's going to be handed over the capacity sooner or later for all formats from what we get to hear and what we can surmise. That's probably something that's motivated them to bring him into the side, give him the promotion as well as becoming the deputy to SKY.
On Surya's form and captaincy
See, as a captain, you need somebody who's aggressive, who's positive, who's got a good temperament, who's one among the boys. And I think Suryakumar Yadav is all this. And that's the reason he's been persisted with as captain. We all know in T20s, it's not all about churning out runs every time you walk out to bat. It's the impact that you make. We all know the kind of impact SKY can make on a given day, even against the best of attacks. He's also extremely good on the field. So that being the case, he will not be too worried about what has happened in the recent past. He knows the responsibility, he's matured and he's really had to work hard over a long period of time to get where he is. So he's a grounded guy. He also knows that with authority comes responsibility. I'm sure that he will make his presence felt in more ways than one.
On team combination in UAE
I would think you'll have four specialist bowlers. Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah are no-brainers. Then you'll have perhaps Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, with Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya being all-rounders, they obviously would fit in any category. That makes six, which leaves place for five batters, including a wicket-keeper. And there again, that's again an all-rounder slotted there, be it Jitesh Sharma or Samson. It's a straightforward equation as far as I'm concerned.
On Rinku's role in the team
I think Rinku is primarily like SKY, picked as a T20 player. I, for one, would tend to think that if somebody is categorised as a specialist in the T20s, and he's one who can turn games on their heads, then he has to be played in the XI. There's no point in having a potential match-winner in the side all the time. And Rinku is also not getting younger. It's about time he establishes himself and goes on to become one of the most important cogs in the wheel.
On role of toss in UAE
I think so. Because we've seen that happen in the past. We've seen that happen in the league that they play on an annual basis. We see the impact that toss has more often than not. With the pitches being different in both the venues where the matches are going to be played in, it's not going to be easy as far as decision-making is concerned. Nobody can be complacent, even though India have enough and more firepower amongst all the teams that's figuring in the Asia Cup.
On Bumrah and workload management
Listen, I'm going to indulge in a bit of conjecture. I'm going to think that the injuries that he's had is because of the unique action with which he bowls. Now, that being the case, it's not a question of how many overs he bowls. It's a question of what his body can take and when and how he's got to really look after the kind of effort that he puts in. There's no saying when things can go wrong or there's no saying if Bumrah will be able to really play in all the formats all the time. When a fast bowler comes out of a back injury after surgery, there's no saying, there's no guarantee. Even the player doesn't know.
As much as anybody can try and hope that to give an adequate rest he can deliver at crucial times, you never know. And God forbid, nothing really serious happens to him if he continues to play. But this is a situation that we are going to live with most of the time. We cannot blame Bumrah because nobody knows how exactly the human body behaves, especially after a setback. We all take things for granted. We've seen it happen in our lives; a minor fracture to a finger or whatever, then we realise how important even that finger can be when it is really not broken. Whereas we get to realise the importance that we tend to think that we shouldn't take any part of our body for granted when it's not really affected. So, as far as Bumrah is concerned, it's always a case of just hoping that things don't go wrong.
Sony Sports Network is the official broadcaster of the Asia Cup 2025. Live coverage of the Asia Cup 2025 will commence on September 9 at 7 PM onwards on Sony Sports Ten 1 and Sony Sports Ten 5.