Asia Cup 2025: Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from India's Asia Cup 2025 squad has left many former cricketers surprised including Men in Blue's ex captain Mohammad Azharuddin. India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced India's 15-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025 which is set to start from September 9. But the squad, which will compete in the continental tournament held in the UAE from September 9 to 28, did not feature Iyer despite his consistent form. In a contrasting move, Shubman Gill, who had been absent from India's T20 set up for over a year, was not only recalled but also named the team's vice-captain.
Explaining the rationale behind Iyer's absence from the final squad, Ajit Agarkar, during the press conference, said:
“With regards to Shreyas, you’ll have to tell who he can replace. It is again, no fault of his, nor is it ours. It’s just that at the moment, you can just pick 15. He’s got to wait for his chance.”
However, Azharuddin described the decision as a 'big surprise', highlighting Iyer's strong performances in both the recent IPL season and domestic cricket. Taking to social media shortly after the squad was announced, Azharudding wrote:
“Shreyas Iyer left out of the squad. Big surprise".
Iyer's T20I career has been a solid one, with the batter playing 51 T20Is for India and accumulating 1104 runs at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 136.12. His most recent appearance for the national T20 side was in December 2023 against Australia. Iyer's impressive leadership credentials in the Indian Premier League (IPL) make his exclusion even more surprising. He led the Delhi Capitals to the playoffs in 2019 and their first-ever final in 2020. After moving to the Kolkata Knight Riders, he captained them to a third IPL title in 2024. Most recently, he guided the Punjab Kings to the 2025 final, their first since 2014. Despite this strong record and recent form, the selectors decided to go with other middle-order options, including Suryakumar, Rinku Singh, and Sanju Samson. The decision to leave out Iyer has sparked a significant debate among fans and cricket experts. Many are questioning the selection priorities and whether India's T20 strategy has shifted away from the accomplished right-handed batter, especially given that his recent performances don't seem to justify such a move.
India's Asia Cup squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Stand-by players: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel