Asia Cup 2025: BCCI orders all players to assemble in Dubai amid no group departure, preparatory camp

The defending Asia Cup champions India are gearing up for the latest edition starting September 9 in the UAE. The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) has ordered all squad players to assemble in Dubai by Thursday (Sep 4) – the venue for India’s first two group games, including one against Pakistan (Sep 14) - before their full-strength training session gets underway on Friday. On the other hand, the team is also not travelling together, unlike the last time, with no preparatory camp arranged as well.

While team captain Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya are due to fly from Mumbai, head coach Gautam Gambhir is scheduled to reach Dubai on Thursday evening, with newly-appointed Test captain Shubman Gill flying from Bengaluru. The board has asked everyone to assemble directly in Dubai for their extended run of practice sessions before their tournament opener against the host (the UAE) on September 10.

Team India’s first full training session is scheduled from 6 to 9 PM on Friday (Sep 5) at the ICC Academy in Dubai.

Meanwhile, the eight-team tournament gets underway next Tuesday (Sep 9), with Afghanistan facing Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi in the opener.

Following India’s opening match against the UAE, they face arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday (Sep 14) in the Asia Cup‘s marquee game. The Men in Blue conclude their group stage proceedings against Oman on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.

Also, if India and Pakistan top Group A, both will qualify for the Super Fours, with the chances of them facing each other again in that stage increasing. However, should both stand tall in the second stage, the two heavyweights would then collide in the first-ever Asia Cup final on September 28.

Team India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad –

Surya Kumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), 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 and Rinku Singh