Mohammad Rizwan, Yashasvi Jaiswal Included: The Ignored XI Of Asia Cup 2025

Ignored XI of Asia Cup [Source: AFP Photo]

All eight teams have announced their squads for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, and while some teams appear strong on paper, others lack the cutting-edge necessary to win the competition. However, there were several key players from each team who were ignored by their respective teams for Asia Cup.

In this piece, we will compile a combined XI of players who were overlooked by their team management for the marquee Asian event.

Openers

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Babar Azam

An interesting opening pair featuring India’s maverick, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and former Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, will open the innings in this ignored XI for the Asia Cup. India already had Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, and Sanju Samson as the three openers, and despite a prolific run in IPL 2025, Jaiswal was snubbed.
For Babar, the case was different. His T20I strike rate of 129 came under scrutiny as Pakistan wanted batters with an aggressive intent and hence, Babar was omitted from the squad.

Middle order batters

Iyer, Rizwan, Ghulam, Angelo Mathews

Despite scoring 604 runs in 17 matches with a strike rate of 175, Shreyas Iyer was snubbed by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel. Agarkar stated that the middle order slots are full and there is no place for Iyer to slot in, and hence, the batter was neglected.
Just like Babar, Mohammad Rizwan’s case remains the same. A T20I strike rate of just 125 led to his omission from the Pakistan Asia Cup squad. Despite boasting a higher batting average, his low strike rate came under the microscope, and the batter was dropped from the team.
Pakistan batter, Kamran Ghulam had a strike rate of 148 in the PSL 2025, and despite a prolific season, the batter was not considered in the Asia Cup squad, as Pakistan took a plethora of all-rounders in the team.
Angelo Mathews retired from the Test team to focus on white-ball cricket, but the legendary batter was snubbed as Sri Lanka is looking to build a young team for the future, and Mathews doesn’t fit in the scheme of things.

Spin bowling options

Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Washington Sundar

Mehidy Hasan Miraz is in the Bangladesh reserves, but he was not picked in the main team, and the main reason was his poor run of form. With a T20I strike rate of 116, Mehidy was a misfit as a finisher, and moreover, he hardly took wickets in T20I format as the selectors decided to demote him to the reserves.
One of Gautam Gambhir's favourites, Washington Sundar, was ignored by the selectors as India already had a plethora of spin-bowling options. However, in tricky UAE conditions, his defensive bowling would have been useful.

Pacers in the side

Mohammed Siraj, Naseem Shah, Nahid Rana

Siraj picked up 16 wickets in the IPL 2025, but the economy was on the higher side (9.25), and hence, India decided to go ahead with Arshdeep Singh as the first-choice pacer to support Jasprit Bumrah. Plus, India are aiming to manage his workload.
Naseem Shah, when he burst onto the scene, was touted as Pakistan’s future, but fast forward to 3 years, and 30 matches later, he only has 25 T20I wickets to his name, and the economy has also risen each year; and hence, Pakistan decided to drop him from the squad.
Nahid Rana is Bangladesh’s brightest pace-bowling prospect, and the selectors are trying to preserve him. He has just played a solitary T20I game, and Bangladesh are looking to make him a red-ball specialist; hence, he was ignored.

Ignored XI of Asia Cup 2025

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Babar Azam, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammad Rizwan, Kamran Ghulam, Angelo Mathews, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Washington Sundar, Naseem Shah, Mohammed Siraj, Nahid Rana