Former batter picks India's all-time Asia Cup XI, leaves out Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly

Former batter Ajay Jadeja named his all-time Asia Cup XI for Team India amid the Asia Cup 2025. However, he left out big names such as Rohit Sharma and Sourav Ganguly from his team.

The former batter made his picks on Sony Sports Network. He picked the legendary pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag as his openers. Ajay Jadeja also named Sehwag as his captain. Tendulkar is the highest run-getter for India in the Asia Cup history (ODI format) with 971 runs from 23 matches with two hundreds and seven half-centuries.

For the middle order, he went with Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, and MS Dhoni. Kohli scored 742 runs from 16 matches (ODI) and 429 runs from 10 matches in the T20I format. Dhoni made 648 runs from 19 matches (ODI).

Further, he picked a strong set of all-rounders in Hardik Pandya, former Indian World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, and Ravindra Jadeja. For his two lead fast bowlers, he picked the legendary Zaheer Khan and modern-day great Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah has bagged 12 wickets from eight games in the ODI format and seven in the T20I format. He also included Kuldeep Yadav as the wrist-spinner.

Ajay Jadeja's all-time India Asia Cup XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag (C), Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (WK), Hardik Pandya, Kapil Dev, Ravinda Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Zaheer Khan, Jasprit Bumrah.

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India begin Asia Cup 2025 with trashing win over UAE

Meanwhile, the Men In Blue began their Asia Cup 2025 journey with a trashing win over the UAE in their opening game in Dubai. They registered a commanding nine-wicket victory in the Group A fixture.

Bowling first, they bundled the UAE out for a paltry total of 57 in 13.1 overs. Kuldeep Yadav, whom Ajay Jadeja also picked, wreaked havoc with the ball. The wrist-spinner returned figures of 4/7 from just 2.1 overs at an economy-rate of 3.2. He found able support from Shivam Dube at the other end, who bagged three wickets.

Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakaravarthy chipped in with a wicket apiece. It was only a matter of time before the batters got past the small target. They scaled it down in 4.3 overs, getting the job done with utmost ease. Abhishek Sharma smashed a 16-ball 30 while vice-captain Shubman Gill made an unbeaten 20 off nine balls.