Indian batter Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the Asia Cup 2025 has created quite an uproar with several former India players expressing their disappointment. While chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar offered an explanation that they can only take 15 players for the tournament while wondering whom he can replace in the current T20I squad. Interestingly, the team also made a list of players on standby, but Iyer didn’t feature in that list either.
Shreyas Iyer has been in top form in white-ball cricket for some time now. He was India’s highest run-getter at the Champions Trophy and then ended up IPL 2025 season with 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07
Ross Taylor opines on Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the Asia Cup squad.Â
New Zealand batting legend Shreyas Iyer felt that the fact that India are finding it difficult to include a player of Iyer’s quality speaks volumes about their depth in the squad. Speaking to PTI Videos on the sidelines of a CLT10 League event, Ross Taylor said: “I haven’t seen the side yet so can’t say. But when you can leave that type of quality out, you’ve got to be pretty comfortable with the depth of your squad.”Â
Suryakumar Yadav will lead the Indian side that starts its title defence on September 10th against Oman. Shubman Gill, whose last T20I came in July 2024, has returned to the fold as vice-captain.
Kris Srikkanth Criticises The Decision to Omit Shreyas Iyer.Â
World Cup winner and former opener Kris Srikkanth didn’t agree with Agarkar’s explanation. He claimed that if the selectors can find space to include Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Sanju Samson, then it’s illogical to leave out Iyer.
Kris Srikkanth said: “For a player who has performed so well, you are saying: ‘tell me who he will replace in the side’. I cannot understand this statement. It’s a nonsensical statement from Agarkar. Totally non-sensical. I don’t agree with him.”Â
Kris Srikkanth added: “You can accommodate Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Sanju Samson but there’s no place for Shreyas Iyer. What is this statement? I cannot understand the logic behind this. There’s no logic at all.”Â
The exclusion of Shreyas Iyer has created a lot of chaos and confusion and criticism has come in from all quarters. While Ross Taylor decided to go lenient over the matter, but the majority of experts, former players were surprised by the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer. While one argument that said was that Shreyas is a top 4 batter and slots are filled and that’s why he was not taken which maybe correct and justified.
But the other factor that needs to be taken into consideration is he was not only not named in the 15, but was also not named among the reserves which has 5 players. A Riyan Parag is there in the reserves and not Shreyas Iyer. This clearly shows that there is more than what meets the eye. It seems that Shreyas Iyer has been dropped not due to form but due to personal reasons as he may not be going along with the team management. That being said, people should be chosen on merit and not on personal choices.
The Indian cricket team still poses a solid squad and may well go on and lift the trophy as the other squads on paper don’t match them. But that does not take away the fact that they got this selection wrong. Even Yashasvi Jaiswal missed out on this team and if India fails to win Asia Cup 2025 questions will be asked why Shreyas and Jaiswal were not part of the squad.
One hopes that the selection panel do not get into this position and India does well in the Asia Cup, but the Iyer exclusion was definitely not justified and was wrong is what we feel. Let’s see how things unforld when Asia Cup gets underway on September 9th with India playing the following day on 10th.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Sanju Samson’s Place In Playing XI Could Be In Jeopardy Reckons Mohammad Kaif.