"How can you drop India's highest wicket-taker in this format?" - Fans slam Team India for excluding Arshdeep Singh in IND vs UAE Asia Cup 2025 clash

Team India pacer Arshdeep Singh was a surprising exclusion from the playing 11 for their Asia Cup 2025 opener against the UAE at Dubai on Wednesday, September 10. The 26-year-old is India's all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 99 scalps in 63 matches at an average of 18.30 and an economy of 8.29.

Arshdeep was a vital cog in India's triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup, finishing as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps. The left-arm pacer has been in red-hot form in the shortest format since the start of last year, with 40 wickets in 21 matches at an average of under 15.

Yet, Team India went with only three specialist bowlers, Varun Chakaravathy, Kuldeep Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah, in their XI to enable batting depth.

Fans on X slammed India's decision to exclude Arshdeep from the lineup with the following reactions:

Professor Cricket45

@208_mohali

There clearly something wrong between Arshdeep and management. How is he always benched nowadays?

Ismail

@wyd_ismail

You know gambhir is intentionally putting Arshdeep aside from the team but you can't prove it

Stumper

@TheStumpStory

No Arshdeep Singh? 🤯 What a pathetic decision! Makes zero sense at all. Gautam Gambhir is literally ruining this team how can you drop India’s highest wicket-taker in this format? Absolute madness and totally baffling. He is just 1 wicket away from 100 T20I wickets.

Fans continued going hard at the Indian management for the decision to exclude Arshdeep Singh, with one saying:

"Are you serious ? Why Arshdeep singh is not in squad ?....He is undoubtedly Best Bowler for India in T20."

"Arshdeep Singh gave his best every time he played-swinging the ball, taking wickets, staying calm under pressure...But when it came to big matches, he was dropped...It looked like Gautam Gambhir chose others over him, even when Arshdeep had proven himself," tweeted a fan.

"Arshdeep singh is the season T20 player why Bumrah that too against UAE what a waste!," a fan said.

Team India looks to continue T20I dominance in Asia Cup 2025 opener

Despite the absence of their leading wicket-taker in the format, Arshdeep Singh, Team India will look to continue their T20I dominance in the 2025 Asia Cup opener against the UAE.

The Men in Blue have won 25 out of their last 28 matches in the shortest format, including an unbeaten run in the 2024 T20 World Cup. They have won their last six bilateral T20I series, dating back to the start of 2024. India are also the defending Asia Cup champions, winning in 2023 (50-over format).

However, they did not qualify for the final when the tournament was last played in the T20 format in 2022. Coming to the ongoing UAE contest, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field first. As things stand, the UAE are reeling at 51/5 in the 10th over of their innings.