Suryakumar Yadav’s Team India will begin the defense of their Asia Cup title with a match against hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Group A clash at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday. There is a lot of grass cover on the Dubai square according to Team India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel which could make the choice of Playing 11 a tricky one for the T20 world champions. Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson is almost certain to be benched for the opening game against UAE with vice-captain Shubman Gill returning to the opener’s slot along side Punjab teammate and world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma. The wicket-keeper’s gloves are set to be handed over to Royal Challengers Bengaluru keeper Jitesh Sharma who can play the role of finisher as well. The rest of the Indian line-up seems rather fixed with Jasprit Bumrah returning to lead the bowling attack. There will however be some debate over the No. 8 position. Kolkata Knight Riders mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy is expected to get the nod as the No. 1 spinner ahead of chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav who will continue to warm the benches. Morkel also hinted that Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Shivam Dube could be given a bigger role even with the ball in the Asia Cup 2025. It is likely that Dube may pip Harshit Rana to the no. 8 position thanks to his superior hitting ability against the spinners as well. UAE on the other hand will bank on the services of their skipper Muhammad Waseem who has been prolific in T20I cricket. Waseem has scored nearly 3000 runs in T20I cricket with 3 hundreds and 23 fifties at a strike-rate of over 155 with 180 sixes to his name. Bowlers Junaid Siddiqui and Haider Ali are dangerous prospects as well as they managed to take five early wickets against Pakistan in their last league match of the tri-series last week.   🗣️ Weve had good preparations and time together as a team#TeamIndia captain Suryakumar Yadav talks about the importance of preparations ahead of #AsiaCup2025 @surya_14kumar pic.twitter.com/OsU5HWcLKI — BCCI (@BCCI) September 9 2025 India vs UAE Asia Cup 2025 Group A match No 2 Predicted 11 India: Shubman Gill Abhishek Sharma Tilak Varma Suryakumar Yadav (C) Jitesh Sharma (wk) Hardik Pandya Axar Patel Shivam Dube/Harshit Rana Varun Chakravarthy Arshdeep Singh Jasprit Bumrah UAE: Muhammad Waseem (c) Alishan Sharafu Rahul Chopra (wk) Ethan DSouza Asif Khan Harshit Kaushik Dhruv Parashar Haider Ali Muhammad Jawadullah Muhammad Rohid Khan Junaid Siddique