2025 Asia Cup Favourites

2 months AGO

The 2025 Asia Cup is being looked at as the perfect preparation for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup for all sides set to play in both tournaments. The slow pitches and humid conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi would be very similar to the surfaces and weather in Chennai or Colombo next year.

The reigning World Champions in the T20I format, India, would be looking to retain their crown in front of their supporters in February next year. The Men in Blue are taking no chances and have been playing serious cricket, even against associate nations, as Gautam Gambhir is trying to instil a winning habit within the regular squad members.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Head Coach Gambhir have often stressed about the depth of the batting, especially in the shortest format of the game, which often means that India goes in with an extra all-rounder instead of a frontline bowler.

In the squad for the 2025 Asia Cup, India has picked several multi-faceted players, picking Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana to elongate the batting line-up till No.8. The Chennai Super Kings all-rounder has been preferred on slower pitches lately, and it remains to be seen if Rana gets a game in the ongoing tournament.

Currently, India sits at the top of the standings in their group, courtesy of big wins against the UAE and arch-rivals Pakistan. The Men in Blue have qualified for the Super Four stage, while other teams are still striving to finish in the Top 2 of their respective groups. Let’s take a deep dive into a statistical overview of how India achieved early qualification to the next round and why they are being hailed as the favorites to lift the trophy at the end of the month.

ICC T20I Rankings

As expected by Parimatch Sports experts, the 2024 T20 World Cup winners are ranked 1st in the official ICC T20I Rankings and are expected to reign supreme in the Asia Cup as well, which has reverted to the T20 format for the 2025 edition.

While the Suryakumar Yadav-led team is ranked No.1, the next best team in Asia, as per the ICC rankings, is Sri Lanka, which is ranked No.7. While the Lankan Lions are ranked 7th in T20I team rankings, Pakistan is at 8th, Bangladesh at 9th, Afghanistan at 10th, the UAE at 15th, and Oman occupies the last spot in the Top 20 T20I rankings.

In individual rankings, in-form opening batter Abhishek Sharma has been crowned as the No.1 T20I batter in the world, while Tilak Varma takes the second spot behind him, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav completes the India trio in the Top 10 by taking up the sixth spot in the list.

When one takes a look at the bowling rankings, Varun Chakravarthy has risen to the top spot, while Ravi Bishnoi, placed at 8th in the rankings, couldn’t even make it to India’s Asia Cup squad. Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh, 14th in the rankings, is not able to usurp Jasprit Bumrah from the starting XI, while Axar Patel is ranked 12th. Kuldeep Yadav has jumped 16 spots from 39th to 23rd after bagging the Player of the Match in both matches so far.

The quality and depth of India’s bowling arsenal are unmatched, courtesy of the Indian Premier League, which has unearthed several gems in the last 15 years. Hardik Pandya, another name that has benefited from the advent of IPL, is currently ranked No.1 in the ICC T20I All-Rounder rankings.

Key Statistics to Remember by Parimatch Sports Expert

  • India started the tournament with a 9-wicket win over hosts United Arab Emirates, chasing the target down in 4.3 overs. With 93 balls remaining, this is the second-biggest win margin for any full member nation, only behind England vs Oman (101 balls left).. 
  • Kuldeep Yadav has won two Player of the Match awards in the 2025 Asia Cup so far and could equal Virat Kohli, who has 3 Player of the Match awards in the Asia Cup (only T20 format).
  • Varun Chakravarthy has scalped 15 wickets in 6 T20Is in 2025 at an average of 9.46, the lowest among any player from a full-member nation who has played a minimum of 5 T20I fixtures in the ongoing calendar year.
  • Abhishek Sharma has scored 85% of his runs in boundaries during the powerplay overs in T20Is in 2025. The World No.1 T20I batter is ranked second on the list behind Ben Duckett, who has scored 86% of his runs during the powerplay overs this year in T20Is.
  • In the Asia Cup T20 competition, only two all-rounders have taken at least 5 wickets and scored more than 80 runs to help their team’s cause. Hardik Pandya (India) and Shakib al Hasan (Bangladesh) are the two names, and with Shakib not participating this year, Hardik would be looking to overtake him in both departments.
  • Jasprit Bumrah has an economy rate of 4.2 in 29.4 overs in T20Is, since the start of 2024, the best among all bowlers from full member nations (min. 20 overs).
  • Since making his T20I debut in March 2021, Suryakumar Yadav has recorded 25 fifty-plus scores; only Mohammad Rizwan has recorded more 50+ scores in the same period in the shortest format of international cricket.