Shreyas Iyer was left out of India’s squad for the Asia Cup despite having put up strong performances in the Indian Premier League. Shreyas led the Punjab Kings to the IPL 2025 final and played strong knocks with the bat. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed the BCCI for his snub.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for overlooking Shreyas Iyer in the Asia Cup 2025 squad and picking players for the T20 tournament based on their Test cricket performances, seemingly taking a dig at Shubman Gill’s selection.
The BCCI announced a 15-member squad for the regional tournament that gets underway on September 9, with Suryakumar Yadav set to lead the team. Test captain Gill has been named the vice-captain of the side, with Shreyas finding no place despite his impressive performances in the Indian Premier League and in the domestic circuit.
Manjrekar slams BCCI for Shreyas Iyer’s snub
Manjrekar slammed Shreyas’ snub and also the board’s mixing of formats in selection for the squad. “Itโs something Iโve seen over the years, not recently: this tendency of selectors to pick a player based on performances in one format, where that person excelled, and then picking him for another format. When I see a player getting rewarded for his Test match performances by being placed in the T20 side, I just find that devoid of cricketing logic. It just doesnโt make any sense,” Manjrekar said in a video on Instagram.
Notably, the former India international also felt that Shreyas had suffered the desired effects of not giving domestic cricket significant importance, but had performed well in his comeback series against England.ย
“Shreyas Iyer not making this T20 squad of India for the Asia Cup is just shocking. This is a guy who was left out of the Indian team for the right reason because they felt he wasnโt committing himself as much to domestic cricket. But it had the desired effect on Shreyas Iyer: when he came back again in the England at-home ODI series, the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he had never batted before,” Manjrekar added.
Manjrekar stated that Iyer had not put a foot wrong in his performances across the tournament and had accumulated runs throughout. “He didnโt put a foot wrong in that comeback series and then carried that form into IPL cricket. I donโt think any batter has had that kind of form throughout the IPL season, with the average over 50, strike rate over 170, and being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection,” Manjrekar added.