NEW DELHI: Hardik Pandya will undergo a routine fitness assessment at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru on August 11 and 12, ahead of India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad selection, TimesofIndia.com has learnt.The star all-rounder has been training in Mumbai since mid-July. The 31-year-old had been a pivotal cog in India’s white-ball success in the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy. In recent years, Pandya has proven to be the engine on which India’s white-ball team runs, and the team will be banking on his all-round brilliance to win the Asia Cup, which gets underway on September 9.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Before Pandya, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer had completed his fitness assessment between July 27 and 29. Shreyas, who led Punjab Kings to the final of the IPL 2025 a year after guiding Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third title, has not played T20Is since December 2023. It will be interesting to see whether the selectors take a chance on the experienced campaigner.
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Meanwhile, Team India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is yet to fully recover from the sports hernia surgery he underwent in June in Munich, Germany. It is learnt that Surya is expected to spend another week at the NCA to regain full fitness under the watchful eyes of the physios and medical team.A couple of days ago, Suryakumar shared a video on Instagram showcasing his return to batting practice at the NCA, where he was also seen exercising and running to build his workload towards complete fitness.“Can’t wait to be back doing what I love,” Suryakumar wrote in his Instagram post.Suryakumar’s recent performance in IPL 2025 was remarkable, earning him the Most Valuable Player award with 717 runs for Mumbai Indians. He finished as the second-highest run-scorer of the season, behind Orange Cap winner Sai Sudharsan, who scored 759 runs for Gujarat Titans.Suryakumar has an impressive track record as India’s full-time T20I captain after Rohit Sharma retired from the format following the 2024 T20 World Cup triumph. Under Suryakumar’s leadership, India have won 17 out of 22 matches.The Asia Cup, which faced doubts after the India-Pakistan armed conflict in May 2025, has now been cleared to proceed. The tournament will be held from September 9 to 28 in the UAE, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi hosting the matches.India have been drawn with Pakistan in Group A and could potentially meet their arch-rivals up to three times in the tournament. They will kick off their campaign against the United Arab Emirates on September 10.
