Shreyas Iyer recorded his best-ever IPL season, racking up over 600 runs while leading Punjab to their first final in 11 years. His jaw-dropping 175-plus strike rate also ranked the best among all players who had aggregated as many runs as him in the season.Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar fully sympathises with Shreyas Iyer after the right-handed Mumbai batter was left out of the Asia Cup squad. Shreyas Iyer, 30, has been in fine form in white-ball formats of late.
If his Champions Trophy exploits weren’t enough, the batter Shreyas Iyer showed his big-hitting skill in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Punjab Kings, leading the franchise to their first-ever final in 11 years. Shreyas Iyer smashed more than 600 runs for the team at a strike rate of more than 170.
Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) senior national men’s selection committee for their tendency to pick players for one format based on performances in another version, declaring India’s Asia Cup T20I team defies cricketing logic.
Though he did not specify names, Manjrekar picked up on the evolving tendency of selectors’ ‘format-mixing’ choices. Since the Asia Cup squad was unveiled by chief national selector Ajit Agarkar last week in Mumbai, experts and fans on social media have been divided over multiple choices in the team. While a group picked up on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer’s snub, certain sections criticised the move to bring Test skipper Shubman Gill back into the T20I fold as vice-captain of the side.
Sanjay Manjrekar brutally criticized the Team management for Asia Cup 2025 squad selection especially triggering Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar stated that Iyer has done no wrong; however, he was quick to say that even he and the rest of the selection committee did no wrong as they were spoilt for choices when it came to the Asia Cup.
However, Manjrekar isn’t buying this argument as he minced no words in calling out Shubman Gill’s inclusion in the Asia Cup squad on the basis of his recent performances in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, where he scored 754 runs in the five-match Test series against England.The former India batter believes it is just not done that the selectors are rewarding players for their Test performances when picking the squad for T20s.
“It’s something that I’ve seen over the years, not recently, this tendency of selectors to pick a player on performances of one format, where that person is accepted and picking him for another format. When I see a player getting rewarded for his Test match performances by a player in the T20 side, I just find that devoid of cricketing logic. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Manjrekar said in a video posted on Instagram.
“Shreyas not making this T20 squad of India for the Asia Cup is just shocking. Because this is a guy who was left out of the Indian game for the right reason, because they felt he wasn’t committing himself as a master of domestic cricket. But it had the desired effect on Shreyas Iyer.
When he came back against England at home in a one-day series, and the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he’s never batted before. Didn’t put a foot wrong in that comeback series. And then carried that form into IPL cricket,” he added.
When Agarkar announced the Asia Cup squad, he stated that Gill was the vice-captain in T20s when India toured Sri Lanka in July 2024. Hence, the management has maintained the status quo now that the 25-year-old is back available for T20S.However, Manjrekar believes Gill’s selection is not done and that the selectors have “seriously wronged” Shreyas Iyer.
Shubman Gill did not play any T20I after the Sri Lanka tour. However, the primary reason for the same was his unavailability as the selectors wanted him fresh for Tests and ODIs.
“I don’t think any batter has had that kind of form right through the IPL season. What with an average of over 50, a strike rate of over 170, plus being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection.
So when you do that to a player who’s put in one of the best performances ever in the last few months in a format for which the Indian team is getting selected, and you leave it out of the format. Perhaps for a guy who has excelled in a completely different format, Test cricket. Pick a guy who’s done well in Test cricket,” said Manjrekar.
“And not just because somebody has done so well in test cricket, gets rewarded with a T20 place, especially at the cost of somebody like Shreyas Iyer. I think the selection these days of the squad and the playing 11 in Indian cricket hasn’t been great.
It’s just amazing, despite the fact that India played so well in England, and there is a great possibility they might do so again in this Asia Cup. But what is wrong is wrong. And I think Iyer has been seriously wronged by the selectors,” he added.
Iyer’s last appearance for India in T20Is came in December 2023 when he played the match against Australia. However, ever since then, he has found himself out of favour despite doing well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and IPL .Despite his rampaging IPL season, Iyer could not even find himself in the extended 20-member pool of the T20I side, also missing the cut among the five standbys named for the tournament.
Shreyas Iyer, 30, had scored 604 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 175 and an average of 50.33 in IPL 2025. He even captained Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish in the competition, just after captaining his previous franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, to the IPL 2024 trophy. He will be next seen in action when he turns out for West Zone in the 2025/26 domestic season-opening Duleep Trophy, starting on August 28 at the BCCI CoE grounds in Bengaluru.
West Zone, led by India’s seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, will play their first match of the Duleep Trophy in the semi-final scheduled for September 4, with their opponents to be the winner of the quarter-final clash between Central Zone and North East Zone. India will kick off their campaign against the UAE on September 10, while the high-voltage game against Pakistan is scheduled for September 14, with both fixtures set to be played in Dubai. India will play their final group stage fixture against Oman on September 19 in Abu Dhabi.
Also Read: ENG vs IND : Shubman Gill Appointed Test Skipper For Red Ball