Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin launched a scathing attack on Team India's competition in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. The eight-nation tournament is underway with Afghanistan taking on Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, September 9.Team India enters the Asia Cup as massive favorites, having won 17 out of their last 20 T20Is, following their triumph in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the other contenders, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, have been largely unimpressive against the big teams in the shortest format in the recent past.While Afghanistan continues to grow by leaps and bounds, with a semifinal qualification in the 2024 T20 World Cup, the other teams above failed to finish in the top four of the mega event.Talking about Team India's competition in the Asia Cup on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said (12:05):"They can almost include a South Africa and make it an Afro-Asia cup to make the tournament competitive. As it is now, they should probably include an India A side for it to be some contest. We've not even spoken about Bangladesh. Because there is nothing to talk about with them. How are these teams going to even compete against India?"He continued:"In a way, I really hope someone else wins the tournament. Because only then will there be a contest in Asia. None of these teams pick Kuldeep or Varun. We've not even spoken about India's powerful batting line-up, which has match-winners galore."Team India will take on the UAE in their tournament opener in Dubai on Wednesday, September 10. Suryakumar Yadav's side are part of Group A, along with Pakistan, Oman, and the UAE."This is not some curtain raiser for the 2026 T20 World Cup" - R AshwinRavichandran Ashwin dismissed the Asia Cup 2025 being considered a curtain raiser for the all-important 2026 T20 World Cup to be played in India and Sri Lanka. The former off-spinner believes even the ever-improving Afghanistan will be no match for Team India in the tournament despite their incredible spin-bowling prowess."This is not some curtain raiser for the 2026 T20 World Cup, it's only a curtain. This tournament isn't some major yardstick for it. Even against the so-called threat of the Afghanistan bowlers, if India battle and score 170+, who will Afghanistan chase this down with? It's nearly impossible," said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).He added:"The only way to defeat India is by somehow restricting them to 155 on a good day, and then chase it down. Normally a T20 is thrilling but India will likely make even that one-sided in this Asia Cup."Despite India's dominance in the shortest format over their Asian rivals, it is Sri Lanka who enter the tournament as the defending champions of the T20 Asia Cup, having triumphed in 2022.