Regarding the omission, India's captain, Suryakumar Yadav said this at the toss:

"Unfortunately, Hardik is out due to injury, Arshdeep and Harshit are also not playing. Jasprit Bumrah, Shivam Dubey and Rinku have been included in the team."

Hardik Pandya, the world's No. 1 T20 all-rounder in the ICC rankings, played all six matches leading up to the Asia Cup 2025 final, batting in four of them. He scored just 58 runs in four innings, but he impressed with his bowling. He was quite economical, taking four wickets in the tournament.