Former Indian assistant coach Abhishek Nayar questioned the decision to omit Shreyas Iyer from the Indian team for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 and said that the exclusion of a 30 -year -old – even IZ reserves – raises serious questions about the selection process.
Nayar spoke to Star Sports and expressed his surprise on Iyer’s absence, especially with regard to his strong performance in the Indian Premier League in the last two seasons. After 2024, the captain of the Knight Calcutta drivers on the IPL title, Iyer led Kings Pandjab to their first finals in more than ten years early this year, and at the same time continued to contribute with Pack.
“I wanted to ask this question – how not even in reserves, if he’s such a strong candidate?” Nayar said. “Sometimes selection meetings can be quite interesting and discussions even more. But I really don’t understand what justification could be that Shreyas Iyer does not include a 20 -member group.”
Shreyas last played T20 International for India In December 2023 he scored half a century against Australia. Since then he has not been dismissed to the T20i side, the T20 World Championship is missing and now in the Asia Cup, despite strong domestic form and management.
Nayar acknowledged that the selection is often based on a number of factors, but indicated that personal preferences in this case could play a role.
“Any selection, after a while, it comes to who you prefer a little more than others. In this respect, Shreyas Iyer may not like as much as someone else. Maybe,” he said.
The main selector Ajit Agarkar dealt with this question during the announcement of the team and explained that Iyer’s exclusion was not caused by his own fault.
“As for Shreyas, it’s not his fault – even that is not ours,” Agarkar said. “We can only choose 15 and may have to wait for his chance at the moment.”
Agarkar also spoke about the omission of Yashasvi Jaiswal and explained that the recent form of Abhisheka Sharma and his ability to contribute with the ball gave him the advantage. In the case of Iyer, however, no specific justification was determined, leaving room for interpretation and debate.
Indian Asia Cup T20 Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Jite Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.
– ends
Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
August 20, 2025
Tune
